SMALL HELPS FOR TO-DAY 



mall Helps 

FOR TO-DAY 



BY 




IMOGEN CLARK 




" So, for to-morrow and its needs 
I do not pray ; 
But keep me, guide me, hold me, Lord, 
Just for to-day. v 



NEW YORK 
E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY 

31 West Twenty-Third Street ~ ' 
1892 




®iu'&er§ttD IBrcss: 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 



ALL WHO WOULD MAKE TO-DAY BETTER THAN YESTERDAY, 
AND A STEPPING-STONE UNTO A STILL BETTER 
TO-MORROW, 

Z\)m "Small $?elp" 



ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. 



JANUARY 1. 



Ye have not passed this way heretofore. — 
Joshua iii. 4. 

If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not 
up hence. — Ex. xxxiii. 1 5 . 

Lord, go before and point the road ; 
I know not whither it may lead, 
Nor what the work Thou hast decreed, — 

Enough that Thou wilt bear the load ! 

Let Thy sweet presence light my way, 

And hallow every cross I bear, 

Transmuting duty, conflict, care, 
Into love's service day by day. 

TF He who knows the road, and knows our 
capacities and our needs, is but with us, 
would we wish to take the guidance out of 
His hands? I trow not. And so welcome 
to the beautiful New Year ; and may we wel- 
come all it may bring us of joy or sorrow, and 
learn the lesson hidden in each. 

Caroline Fox. 



2 



JANUARY 2. 



Trust ye in the Lord forever. — Isa. xxvi. 4. 

Believe and trust. Through stars and suns, 
Through life and death, through soul and sense, 

His wise, paternal purpose runs ; 
The darkness of His providence 
Is star-lit with benign intents. 

0 joy supreme ! I know the Voice 

Like none besides on earth or sea ; 
Yea, more, — 0 soul of mine, rejoice, — 

By all that He requires of me, 

I know what God Himself must be. 

John Greenleaf Whittier. 

DELIEVE in God; trust God by obedience 
to the uttermost; trust Him for a way 
when there is no way, for light when there is 
no light, for all things when you have nothing, 
for joy when there is only sorrow, for life when 
you are in the midst of death ; thus you will 
find at last that faith is not only righteousness, 
but life and joy and peace. 

Theodore T. Munger. 



JANUARY 3- 



3 



When He giveth quietness, who then can make 
trouble. — Job xxxiv. 2 9 . 

Let Thy mercy's wings be spread 

O'er me; keep me close to Thee. 
In the peace Thy love doth shed 

Let me dwell eternally. 
Be my All ; in all I do 

Let me only seek Thy will. 
Where the heart to Thee is true, 

All is peaceful, calm, and still. 



LL the peace and favor of the world can- 



not calm a troubled heart; but where 
the peace "is which Christ gives, all the trouble 
and disquiet of the world cannot disturb it. 
All outward distress to such a mind is but as 
the rattling of the hail upon the tiles to him 
that sits within the house at a sumptuous 
banquet. 



A. H. Francke. 




Archbishop Leighton. 



4 



JANUARY 4. 



Give tcs this day our daily bi'ead. — Matt. vi. 1 1. 

Master, help ! From hour to hour, 
Lord, I need Thy saving power, — 
Not to soothe to-morrow's woes, 
Not to bless to-night's repose. 
Now I hunger to be fed ; 
Give to-day Thy daily bread. 

Every moment hold my hand ; 
Without Thee I cannot stand. 
Show my foot the place to tread ; 
Step by step I must be led. 
Go before me all the way ; 
Give me daily bread to-day ! 



HAT is this bread, O my God? It is 



v * not merely the support which Thy 
providence supplies for the necessities of life ; 
it is also the nourishment of truth which Thou 
givest each day to the soul. It is the bread of 
eternal life, giving it vigor, and making it 
grow in faith. Thou dost renew it every day. 
Thou givest within and without precisely what 
the soul needs for its advancement in a life of 
faith and renunciation. For whatever happens 
to me each day is my daily bread, provided I 
do not refuse to take it from Thy hand and 
feed upon it. 



Rose Terry Cooke. 




Fenelon, 



JANUARY 5. 



5 



Strengthened with all might, according to His 
glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffer- 
ing with joyfulness. — Col. i. i i. 

I longed to gird the harness on, 

To work with might and will : 
Stern was the voice that said to me, — 

My child, wait and be still. 

He only knoweth how to serve 

Who knoweth how to wait ; 
Thus test I all who wish to work 

Within my vineyard gate. 

Mary Frances Butts. 

^l/'ORKING or waiting-, our souls will hang 
on Him. And waiting, as we must rec- 
ognize and remember, is a sacrifice of self, a 
real martyrdom no less than working. To win 
the soul in patience, to bear the trial of delay, 
to watch for the dawn through the chill hours 
which precede it, to keep fresh and unsullied 
the great hope that Christ will come, is a wit- 
ness to the powers of the unseen world, which 
the Spirit of God alone can make possible. 

Brooke Foss Westcott, 



6 



JANUARY 6. 



Abstain from all appearance of evil. — 
i Thess. v. 22. 

God does not say, " Be beautiful," " Be wise," 
Be aught that man in man will overprize ; 
Only " Be good," the tender Father cries, 

We seek to mount the still ascending stair, 
To greatness, glory, and the crowns they bear ; 
We mount to fall heart-sickened in despair. 

The purposes of life misunderstood 

Baffle and wound us, but God only would 

That we should heed His simple words, " Be good ! " 

William Sawyer. 

r^OODNESS is the only investment that 
never fails. In the music of the harp 
that trembles round the world, it is the insist- 
ing on this which thrills us. 

Henry David Thoreau. 



JANUARY 7. 



7 



Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 
least of these, my brethren^ ye have done it unto 
me. — Matt. xxv. 40. 

Still wheresoever pity shares 

Its bread with sorrow, want, and sin, 

And love the beggar's feast prepares, 
The uninvited guest comes in. 

Unheard, because our ears are dull, 
Unseen, because our eyes are dim, 

He walks our earth, The Wonderful ; 
And all good deeds are done to Him. 

John Greenleaf Whittier, 

VX7E can only do a deed to God by doing 
that deed for Him, — only by offering 
ours as the hands with which it shall be done. 
Our human love for one another, and all our 
human help, is not less His for being ours. 
"God's tender mercy" is the name in heaven 
for what we call on earth " a drink of water." 
Many dear things of Providence He hands to 
His little ones by each other. Sometimes how 
can He reach them else ? And sometimes whom 
can He use but you and me ? 

William Channing Gannett, 



s 



JANUARY 8. 



/ will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from 
whejice cometh my help. — Ps. cxxi. i. 

Beckon us upward, ye sky-loving peaks, 
Whose home is far above these vales of sin. 

'T is earth around us ; but beyond there breaks 
A light which bids us rise and enter in. 

The sun is on your heights ; and from those cliffs 
It speaks to us of love and glory there ; 

Like some fresh joyous angel that alights 
To call us upward to the good and fair. 

HORATIUS BONAR. 

TF we look down, then our shoulders stoop. 

If our thoughts look down our character 
bends. It is only when we hold our heads 
up that the body becomes erect. It is only 
when our thoughts go up that our life be- 
comes erect. 

Alexander McKenzie. 



JANUARY 9- 



9 



He that contemneth small things shall fall by 
little and little. — Ecclus. xix. i. 



HE sins by which God's spirit is ordinarily 



grieved are the sins of small things, — 
laxities in keeping the temper, slight neglect of 
duty, lightness, sharpness of dealing. If it is 
your habit to walk with God in the humblest 
occupations of your day, it is very nearly certain 
that you will be filled with the Spirit always. 



Despise not little sins; 



The gallant ship may sink, 
Though only drop by drop 
The watery tide it drink. 



Richard Chenevix Trench. 




Horace Bushnell. 



IO 



JANUARY 10. 



And Jesus saith unto them : How many 
loaves have ye ? — Matt. xv. 34. 

So still, dear Lord, in every place 

Thou standest by the toiling folk 
With love and pity in Thy face, 
And givest of Thy help and grace 

To those who meekly bear the yoke. 

The lives which seem so poor and low, 

The hearts which are so cramped and dull, 
The baffled hopes, the impulse slow, 
Thou takest, touchest all, — and lo ! 
They blossom to the beautiful. 

Susan Coolidge. 

" TT OW many loaves have ye ? " It is the 
A 1 Lord's first question ; and the hands of 
those who really want His help search their 
robes to see what they have hidden there. 
One brings his joy ; another brings his pain ; 
another brings his helpless desire ; another 
brings his poor resolution ; another has noth- 
ing to bring except just his sorrow that he has 
nothing. It is a poor collection, — only seven 
loaves and a few little fishes, — but it is enough ! 
His blessing falls upon them, and they come 
back to the souls which gave them up to Him 
multiplied into the means of healthy, holy, 
happy life. Phillips Brooks. 



JANUARY 11. 



By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by 
thy words thou shalt be condemned. — Matt. 
xii. 37. 

Words are mighty, words are living ; 

Serpents with their venomous stings, 
Or bright angels crowding round us 

With heaven's light upon their wings. 
Every word has its own spirit, 

True or false, that never dies ; 
Every word man's lips have uttered 

Echoes in God's skies. 

Adelaide Anne Procter. 

^HE evil word — and oh, remember this — 
is a step, a long step, beyond the evil 
thought; and it is a step toward the preci- 
pice's edge. Frederic W. Farrar. 

Remember that every word you utter wings 

its way to the throne of God, and is to affect 

the condition of your soul forever. 

J Todd. 



12 



JANUARY 12. 



Truth shall be thy shield and buckler. — Ps. 
xci. 4. 

Get but the truth once uttered, and *t is like 
A star new-born that drops into its place, 

And which, once circling' in its placid round. 
Not all the tumult of the earth can shake. 

James Russell Lowell. 

Delight no less in truth than life. 

Shakespeare, 

Goldsmith : For my part, I 'd tell the truth 
and shame the devil. 

Johnson : Yes, sir ; but the devil will be 
angry. I wish to shame the devil as much as 
you do, but I should choose to be out of the 
reach of his claws. 

Goldsmith : His claws can do you no harm 
when you have the shield of truth. 

Boswell's Life of Johnson, 



JANUARY 13. 



13 



Pray without ceasing. — 1 Thess. v. 1 7. 

More things are wrought by prayer 
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice 
Rise like a fountain for me night and day ; 
For what are men better than sheep or goats, 
That nourish a blind life within the brain, 
If knowing God, they lift not hands in prayer, 
Both for themselves and those who call them friend ? 
For so the whole round world is every way 
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God. 

Alfred Tennyson. 

pRAYER is the door forever open between 
earth and heaven. Sooner than sound 
can reach a human ear through this lower at- 
mosphere the longing desire of the spirit rises 
to the heart of the Eternal Friend. Whether 
we believe it or not, we are living in an invisi- 
ble world, where our wishes are understood 
before our words are spoken. 

Lucy Larcom. 



14 



JANUARY 14. 



Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit r 
serving the Lord, — Rom. xii. 1 1 . 

Since Thou hast added now, 0 God ! 

Unto my life another day, 
And giv'st me leave to walk abroad 

And labor in my lawful way, 
My walks and works with me begin ; 
Conduct me forth and bring* me in. 

George Wither. 

DEMEMBER that if the opportunities for 
great deeds should never come, the op- 
portunity for good deeds is renewed for you 
day by day. The thing for us to long for is 
the goodness, not the glory. 

Frederic W. Farrar. 



JANUARY 15. 



15 



One only is the law -giver and judge, even He 
who is able to save and to destroy ; but who art 
thou that judges t thy neighbor ? — James iv. 12. 



Thou alone 
Keepest judgment for Thine own; 
Only unto Thee is known 

What to pity, what to blame ; 
How the fierce temptation came ; 
What is honor, what is shame. 



OD sees us altogether, not in separate feel- 



ings or actions as our fellow-men see us. 
We are always doing each other injustice, be- 
cause we only hear separate feelings or actions ; 
we don't see each other's whole nature. 



No man can justly censure or condemn an- 
other, because, indeed, no man truly knows 
another. 



(R. V.) 



Alice Gary. 



* 




George Eliot. 



Sir Thomas Browne, 



i6 



JANUARY 16. 



In God have I put my trust ; I will not be 
afraid. — Ps. lvi. 4. (R. V.) 

Oh, heart of mine, we should n't 

Worry so ! 
What we 've missed of calm we could n't 

Have, you know ! 
What we 've met of stormy pain, 
And of sorrow's driving- rain, 
We can better meet again 

If it blow. 

We have erred in that dark hour 

We have known ; 
When our tears fell with the shower 

All alone. 
Were not shine and shadow blent, 
As the gracious Master meant ? 
Let us temper our content 

With His own. 

For we know not every morrow 

Can be sad ; 
So, forgetting all the sorrow 

We have had, 
Let us fold away our fears, 
And put by our foolish tears, 
And through all the coming years 

Just be glad. 

James Whitcomb Reilly. 

OD writes straight on crooked lines. 

Spanish Proverb. 



JANUARY 17. 



17 



Not my will, but Thine be done. — Luke 
xxii. 42. 

Whate'er my Father wills is best, — 
Delight or suffering, toil or rest, — 
Thine eye, and Thine alone, can see 
What I should have, and do, and be. 
I only ask that I may know 
The way which Thou wouldst have me go ; 
That I my will in Thine may lose ; 
That what Thou, Lord, for me shalt choose, 
I, too, may choose. 

C. W. Harris. 

^HERE are no disappointments, it has been 
said, to those whose wills are bound up 
in the will of God. 

The Light of the Conscience. 



2 



i8 



JANUARY 18. 



But this I say, brethren, the time is short. — 
i Cor. vii. 29. 

They are such dear, familiar feet that go 
Along the path with ours, — feet fast or slow, 
And trying to keep pace, — if they mistake, 
Or tread upon some flower that we would take 
Upon our breast, or bruise some reed, 
Or crush poor Hope until it bleed, 

We may be mute, 
Not turning quickly to impute 
Grave fault ; for they and we 
Have such a little way to go — can be 
Together such a little while along the way — 
We will be patient while we may. 



TJOW careful one ought to be to be kind 
and thoughtful to one's old friends. It 
is so soon too late to be good to them, and 
then one is always so grieved. 

Sarah Orne Jewett. 



JANUARY 19. 



19 



For the vision is yet for an appointed time, 
but at the end it shall speak, and not lie : though 
it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, 
it will not tarry. — Hab. ii. 3. 

Haste not ! rest not ! calmly wait ; 
Meekly bear the storms of fate ! 
Duty be thy polar guide ; 
Do the right whate'er betide ! 
Haste not ! rest not ! conflicts past, 
God shall crown thy work at last. 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 

" J^ OE *e next thynge." What a grand 
motto that was ! And that was a good 
motto, " Repos ailleurs." Work here, rest is 
elsewhere ; wipe thy tears ; cease thy sighing ; 
do thy work. 

Frederic W. Farrar. 



20 



JANUARY 20. 



Do thy diligence. — 2 Tim. iv. 9. 

There lies no desert in the land of life ; 
For e'en that tract that barrenest doth seem, 
Labored of thee, in faith and hope, shall teem 

With heavenly harvest and rich gatherings rife. 



HEN you awake in the morning, and 



when that heavy pain wakes too, — oh, 
so sharply ! — and the burden of a monotonous 
life falls down upon you, or rises like a dead, 
blank wall before you, making you turn round 
on your pillow, longing for another night in- 
stead of an insupportable day, rouse yourself. 
Remember what you are, — a child of God; 
Say, " What have I got to do to-day ? " Not 
" What have I to enjoy or suffer ? " but " What 
have I to do ? " Don't try to be happy, but 
try to work. Work for God, and happiness 
will come. 



Frances Kemble. 




JANUARY 21. 



21 



So then every one of us shall give account of 
himself to Goo 7 . — ■ Rom. xiv. 1 2 . 

God bends from out the deep, and says, 

" I gave thee the great gift of life ; 
Wast thou not called in many ways ? 

Are not my heaven and earth at strife ? 
I gave thee of my seed to sow ; 

Bringest thou me thy hundredfold ?" 
Can I look up with face aglow 

And answer, " Father, here is gold?" 

James Russell Lowell. 

are not our own, but His; and we are 
to live not according to our caprice, but 
according to His commandment. Whatever 
we bury out of sight we must account for. 

N. L. Frothingham. 



22 



JANUARY 22. 



Which hope we have as an anchor of the 
soul, both sure and steadfast. — Heb. vi. 19. 

God liveth ever ! 
Wherefore, Soul, despair thou never ! 
What though thou tread with bleeding feet 

A thorny path of grief and gloom, 
Thy God will choose the way most meet 
To lead thee heavenwards, lead thee home. 
For this life's long night of sadness 
He will give thee peace and gladness. 
Soul remember in thy pains 
God o'er all forever reigns. 



HO can really think and not think hope- 



v y fully ? You were in my mind last 
night, and you brought a little boat to sail me 
past despondency of life and the fear of ex- 
tinction. When we despair and discolor things 
it is our senses in revolt, and they have made 
the sovereign brain their drudge. I heard you 
whisper, " There is nothing the body suffers 
that the soul may not profit by." With that 1 
sail into the dark ; it is my promise of the im- 
mortal, — teaches me to see immortality for us. 



Zihn. 




George Meredith, 



JANUARY 23. 



23 



Now are we sure that Thou knowest all 
things, — John xvi. 30. 

Only God knows the trials that we bear, 
The weary longing for a different fate, 

The daily struggle and the anxious care, — 
He knows, and we can wait. 

Only God knows, — we have no want beside ! 

Our Father watches o'er us from above ; 
We feel our weakness, but His hand will guide. 

He knows, and He is Love ! 

Mary Lowe Dickinson, 



RUST Him implicitly, submit to Him cheer- 



fully, and you will find that all shall be 
well ; that more grace will be given you ; that 
the heavier the trial the larger will be the 
blessed measure of the strength. The Shep- 
herd is leading you in the right way to His 
own blessed fold. Leave it all to Him. 




Alexander McKenzie. 



24 



JANUARY 24. 



Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the 
Lord, and not unto men. — Col. iii. 23. 

The ministry of little things, 

Not counted mean or small 
By that dear alchemy which brings 

Some grain of gold from all : 
The faith to wait as well as work, 

Whatever may befall. 

Susan Coolidge. 

j^ITTLE self-denials, little honesties, little 
passing words of sympathy, little name- 
less acts of kindness, little silent victories over 
favorite temptations, — these are the silent 
threads of gold which, when woven together, 
gleam out so brightly in the pattern of life that 
God approves. 

Frederic W. Farrar. 



JANUARY 25. 



25 



As we have therefore opportunity, let us do 
good icnto all men, — Gal. vi. 10. 

The means that Heaven yields must be embraced 
And not neglected. 

Shakespeare. 

Miss not the occasion ; by the forelock take 
That subtle power, the never-halting time, 

Lest a mere moment's putting- off should make 
Mischance almost as heavy as a crime. 

William Wordsworth. 

JT is decreed in the providence of God that 
although the opportunities for doing good, 
which are in the power of every man, are be- 
yond count or knowledge, yet the opportunity 
once neglected, no man by any self-sacrifice 
can atone for those who have fallen or suffered 
by his negligence. 

Juliana Horatia Ewing, 



26 



JANUARY 26. 



Let every man prove his own work, and then 
shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not 
in another. — Gal. vi. 4. 

Nor serve we only when we gird 
Our hearts for special ministry ; 

That creature best has ministered 
Which is what it was meant to be. 

" T HAVE desired," says King Alfred the 
Great, " to live worthily while I have 
lived, and after my life to leave the men that 
should be after me a remembrance in good 
works." How lofty the simple words are! 
Duty, not romantic achievement, is the aim of 
his life ; not to do some " great thing," but the 
right thing, — the right thing being simply 
what God gave him to do. He seems to have 
felt in his inmost being that each man was sent 
into the world, not to live like some one else, 
but to do his own work and bear his own bur- 
den, — precisely the one work which God has 
given him, and which can never be given to or 
done by another. Elizabeth Charles. 



JANUARY 27. 



27 



In quietness and in confidence shall be your 
strength. — Isa. xxx. 15. 



I would be quiet, Lord ! 

Nor tease nor fret ; 
Not one small need of mine 

Wilt Thou forget. 

Julia C. R. Dorr. 



ONFIDENCE is the secret of strength. 



A mind may be still though active ; and the 
quietness which is part of the " confidence " 
we have in Him, the Christ, is only found in 
the close abiding in Him, emblemed in His 
own parable of the Vine and the branches. 




MONOD. 



Rose Porter, 



28 



JANUARY 28. 



And thine ears shall hear a word behind 
thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it. — 

ISA. XXX. 2 1. 

A calm path 
Which lies before the feet through common ways 
And undistinguished crowds of toiling men, 
And yet is hard to tread, though seeming smooth, 
And yet, though level, earns a worthier crown. 
For knowledge is a steep which few may climb ; 
But duty is a path which all may tread. 

Lewis Morris. 



T ET it make no difference to thee whether 
thou art cold or warm if thou art doing 
thy duty, and whether thou art drowsy or sat- 
isfied with sleep, and whether ill-spoken of or 
praised. Marcus Aurelius. 



Be not diverted from your duty by any 
idle reflections the silly world may make on 
you ; for their censures are not in your power, 
and consequently should be no part of. your 
concern. Epictetus, 



JANUARY 29. 



29 



As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith 
without works is dead also. — James ii. 26. 

T IS not the wide phylactery, 
Nor stubborn fast, nor stated prayers, 

That make us saints ; we judge the tree 
By what it bears. 

And when a man can live apart 

From works, on theologic trust, 
I know the blood about his heart 

Is dry as dust. 



HE effective life and the receptive life are 



one. No sweep of arm that does some 
work for God but harvests also some more 
of the truth of God, and sweeps it into the 
treasury of life. 



Alice Cary. 




Phillips Brooks. 



30 



JANUARY 30. 



The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting 
light. — Isa. lx. 19. 

There is no day so dark 
But through the murk some ray of hope may steal, 
Some blessed touch from Heaven that we might feel 

If we but chose to mark. 

Celia Thaxter. 



T ET us all be sure that all is well, whatever 
comes, while we trust and stand fast and 
strive, and only hopeless — and rightly hope- 
less — when we want what we are in no wise 
willing to earn. The glory and the glow of 
life come by right living. So then, while we 
may not know what trials wait on any of us, 
we can believe that as the days in which Job 
wrestled with his dark maladies are the only 
days that make him worth remembrance, and 
but for which his name had never been written 
in the Book of life; so the days through 
which we struggle, finding no way, but never 
losing the light, will be the most significant we 
are called to live. Robert Collyer. 



JANUARY 31. 



3i 



Thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God ac- 
cording as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. 
— Deut. xvi. 10. 

For the best that thou canst be 
Is the service asked of thee. 

TTHE Almighty in His providence does not 



ask of us uniform rents for our rights 
and lives, as earthly landlords sometimes do. 
He only asks for the rightful use of the talent 
entrusted to us. The taxes of Heaven are never 
per capita, but always pro rata. Not the for- 
mal observance of each and all alike, but every 
heart's best love, every hand's readiest service. 
Not the number of acres you till, but the quality 
of your tilling determines the profit of the har- 
vest in spiritual as well as material farming. 
This standard exacts no promises, but it ac- 
cepts no apologies ; for there is no occasion for 
apology when you have done all you can. 




Jenkin Lloyd Jones. 



32 



FEBRUARY 1. 



A merry heart maketh a cheerful counte- 
7ia?ice. — Prov. xv. 13. 

Why not take life with cheerful trust, 

With faith in the strength of weakness ? 
The slenderest daisy rears its head 
With courage and with meekness. 
A sunny face 
Hath holy grace 
To woo the sun forever. 

Mary Mapes Dodge. 

T T is part of my religion to look well after the 
cheerfulnesses of life, and let the dismals 
shift for themselves, believing with good Sir 
Thomas More that it is wise to be " merrie 
in God." 

Louisa May Alcott. 

1 DO not know any way so sure of making 
others happy as of being so one's self. 

Sir Arthur Helps, 



FEBRUARY 2. 



33 



Thou also shall seek strength. — Nahum iii. 1 1. 

We ask not that our path be always bright, 
But for Thine aid to walk therein aright; 
That Thou, O Lord ! through all its devious way 
Wilt give us strength sufficient to our day, 
For this we pray 

William Burleigh. 

J F thou look to thyself, thou shalt be able of 
thyself to accomplish nothing. But if thou 
trust in the Lord, strength shall be given thee 
from Heaven, and the world and the flesh shall 
be made subject to thy command. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

Should we feel at times disheartened and 
discouraged, a confiding thought, a simple 
movement of the heart towards God, will 
renew our powers. Whatever He may de- 
mand of us, He will give us at the moment 
the strength and courage that we need. 

Fenelon, 

3 



34 



FEBRUARY }. 



All things work together for good to them that 
love God. — Rom. viii. 28. 

0 what a load of struggle and distress 

Falls off before the Cross ! The feverish care ; 

The wish that we were other than we are ; 

The sick regrets ; the yearning's numberless ; 

The thought, "this might have been," so apt to press 

On the reluctant soul; even past despair, 

Past sin itself, — all all is turned to fair, 

Aye ! to a scheme of ordered happiness, 

So soon as we love God. 



HOSE who love God will find all things 



1 working together for their good. Every- 
thing helps them, as sunshine or storm, sum- 
mer or winter, helps the tree. When the sun 
shines warmly, the tree opens all its buds and 
leaves and drinks in the warm air, and grows. 
When the cold storms of winter beat upon it, 
it withdraws into itself, and shuts its pores, 
and tightens its hold by the roots, and hardens. 
So when all things are pleasant in life we enjoy 
them gratefully, and expand in God's sunshine 
with thankful hearts. When disappointment 
and trial come we learn to be patient, trusting, 
submissive, hopeful, firm, and true, and that is 
good for us also. James Freeman Clarke. 



Chaitncy Hare Townshend. 




FEBRUARY 4. 



35 



For, behold, the kingdom of God is within 
you. — Luke xvii. 2 1 . 



Our heaven and hell, the joys, the penalty, 
The yearning's, the fruition. Earth is hell 
Or heaven, and yet not only earth ; but still, 
After the swift soul leaves the gates of death, 
The pain grows deeper and less mixed, the joy 
Purer and less alloyed, and we are damned 
Or blest as we have lived. 



E must make people feel that heaven and 



hell are not places for drinking sweet 
wine, or being broiled alive, some distance off ; 
but they are here before us, and within us in 
the street, and at the fireside. 



We are ourselves 



Lewis Morris, 




Thomas Carlyle. 



36 



FEBRUARY 5. 



The love of Christ constraineth us, — 2 Cor, 
v. 14. 

Blest be Thy love, dear Lord, 

That taught us this sweet way- 
Only to love Thee for Thyself, 



HE love of Christ constraineth me." It is 



1 in the light of these words that we come 
to understand the meaning of the cross of 
Christ. If love is to be the king of your life 
and mine, if with us here, amid all the strife 
and rivalry that make up our " workaday 
world/' the voice that bids us love is to be 
regnant over all other voices, somewhere or 
other there must be the spell that compels us 
to do so. An apostle has found the spell when 
he wrote, " the love of Christ constraineth me ; " 
and other men than he, aye, a multitude whom 
no man can number, have looked also into the 
face crowned with thorns, and have learned 
there how to love. 



And for that love obey. 



John Austen. 




Henry C. Potter 



FEBRUARY 6. 



37 



Boast not thyself of to-morrow ; for thou 
knowest not what a day may bring forth. — 
Prov. xxvii. i. 

In human hearts what bolder thoughts can rise 
Than man's presumption on to-morrow's dawn? 
Where is to-morrow ? In another world, 
For numbers this is certain : the reverse 
Is sure to none. 

YOUNG. 

J_J OW mankind defers from day to day the 
best it can do, and the most beautiful 
thing's it can enjoy, without thinking that every 
day may be the last one, and that lost time is 
lost eternity. 

Max Muller. 



38 



FEBRUARY 7. 



Joy and gladness shall be found therein, 
thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. — Isa. 
li. 3. ^ 

So brief the time to smile, 

Why darken we the air 
With frowns and tears, the while 

We nurse despair ? 

Stand in the sunshine, sweet, 

And treasure every ray ; 
Nor seek with stubborn feet 

The darksome way. 

Celia Thaxter. 

T USED to think it was great to disregard 
* happiness, to press on to a high goal, care- 
less, disdainful of it. But now I see that there 
is nothing so great as to be capable of happi- 
ness, to pluck it out of " each moment and 
whatever happens;" to find that one can ride 
as gay and buoyant on the angry, menacing", 
tumultuous waves of life as on those that 
glide and glitter under a clear sky; that it is 
not defeat and wretchedness which come out 
of the storms of adversity, but strength and 
calmness. 

Anne Gilchrist. 



FEBRUARY 8. 



39 



Ask, and ye shall receive. — John xvi. 24. 

0 dumb, deaf, blind, receive ! 
Shall He who made the ear not hear your cry ? 
Doth He not tenderly see who made the eye ? 

Ask Me that I may give. 

Adeline D. T. Whitney. 

'HERE is nothing too great, nothing too 



small, for us to bring to the One of all 
compassion. I think it is the going to God 
with our every want that He loves. Hence the 
oftener we go the more we please Him, for our 
asking for the to us seemingly little things is 
but demonstrating our entire dependence on 
Him ; and surely this dependence, this trust, is 
what makes us the children of our Heavenly 
Father. 




Rose Porter. 



40 



FEBRUARY 9. 



He that is slow to anger is better than the 
mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than tie 
that taketh a city. — Prov. xvi. 32. 

Let each man raise 
The self by soul, not trample down the self ; 
Soul is self's friend when self doth rule o'er self 

Song Celestial. 

TF, then, you wish not to be of an angry tem- 
* per, do not feed the habit ; throw nothing 
on it which will increase it ; at first keep quiet, 
and count the days on which you have not 
been angry ; for the habit at first begins to be 
weakened, and then is completely destroyed. 
When you can say, " I have not been vexed 
to-day, nor the day before, nor yet on any 
succeeding day during two or three months, 
but 1 took care when some exciting things 
happened," be assured that you are in a good 

wa y # Epictetus. 



To rule oneself is in reality the greatest 
triumph. SlR J0HN LuBB0CK< 



FEBRUARY 10. 



4i 



That ye love one another. — John xv. i 7. 

Give thy heart's best treasures, 

From fair Nature learn ; 
Give thy love, and ask not, 

Wait not a return. 
And the more thou spendest 

From thy little store, 
With a double bounty 

God will give thee more. 



HE beautiful law of Christian love, life, and 



truth is that the more we give of our 
own capital the more that capital increases. 
The widow's cruse of oil and barrel of meal 
increased as she distributed them ; and a Chris- 
tian's sunshine and happiness, faith and hope, 
will be invigorated and multiplied in propor- 
tion as he tries to make others hopeful, trust- 
ful, and happy. 



Adelaide Anne Procter. 




John Cumming. 



42 FEBRUARY 11. 



Changed into the same image from glory to 
glory. — 2 Cor. iii. 18. 

O hearts of love ! O souls that turn 
Like sunflowers to the pure and best ! 
To you the truth is manifest ; 

For they the mind of Christ discern 
Who lean, like John, upon His breast. 

John Greenleaf Whittier. 

OTAND in Christ's presence and mirror His 
^ character, and you will be changed in 
spite of yourself, and unknown to yourself, 
into the same image, from character to charac- 
ter. Every man is a reflector ; that is the prin- 
ciple upon which this is based. He cannot help 
reflecting ; he cannot help showing the envi- 
ronment in which he has lived, the influences 
that have played round him. ... All friend- 
ship, all love, — human and Divine, — is spirit- 
ual, so that it is no difficulty in reflecting the 
character of Christ that we have never been in 
visible contact with Him. He does not appeal 
to the eye ; He appeals to the soul, and is re- 
flected, not from the body, but the soul. 

Henry Drummond. 



FEBRUARY 12. 43 



Loi'd, teach us to pray. — Luke xi. i. 

O Thou by whom we come to God, — 

The life, the truth, the way ! 
The path of prayer Thyself hath trod ; 

Lord, teach us how to pray. 

James Montgomery. 



"^^HEREVER there is religion there is prayer, 
and wherever there is a religious soul 
there is heard the language of prayer. 

Francis B. Hornbrooke. 

Thee mustna undervally prayer. Prayer 
mayna bring money, but it brings us what no 
money can buy, — a power to keep from sin, 
and be content with God's will, whatever He 
may please to send. 

George Eliot. 



44 FEBRUARY 13. 



The Lo?'d shall give thee rest. — Isa. xiv. 3. 

The human tide goes rushing down to death ; 

Turn thou a moment from the current broad 
And listen : — What is this the silence saith, 

0 Soul ? " Be still, and know that I am God." 

The mighty God ! Here shalt thou find thy rest, 
0 weary one ! There is naught else to know, 

Naught else to seek, — here thou mayst cease thy quest ; 
Give thyself up ; He leads where thou shouldst go. 



GOD ! Thou hast made us for Thyself, 



our souls are unsatisfied, and are unquiet 
in us ; there is emptiness till Thou dost com- 
municate Thyself, till we return unto Thee. . . . 
Self-denial, self -surrender, devotion are Thy in- 
junctions upon us, not for Thy sake, but that 
we, who are empty, shallow, insufficient, may 
go out of ourselves, and find in Thee fulness, 
satisfaction, and abundance. 



Celia Thaxter. 




Benjamin Whichcote. 



FEBRUARY 14. 



45 



Com?nit thy works unto the Lord, and thy 
thoughts shall be established. — Prov. xvi. 3. 

When first thy eyes unveil, give thy soul leave 
To do the like; our bodies but forerun 

The spirit's duty. True hearts spread and heave 
Unto their God as flow'rs do to the sun. 

Give Him thy first thoughts then ; so shalt thou keep 

Him company all day, and in Him sleep. 

Henry Vaughan. 

C VERY morning before we cross our thresh- 
old, before we make a single plan or ap- 
pointment for the day, we must give ourselves 
unto our Father's business. We are not, as we 
sometimes do, to determine what we will do, 
and then devote it to God, but we are first to 
devote ourselves to God, and ask Him what 
we shall do. 

Alexander McKenzie. 



4 6 



FEBRUARY 15. 



O Lord, I am oppressed ; tender take for vie, — 
Isa, xxxviii. 14. 

Being in straits I cry, 
Lord, make a way ! 
Open a door for me; 

Help me, I pray ! 
Gold Thou hast endless store ; 
Strength, all 1 want and more. 

All hearts are in Thy hand, — 
Nothing can Thee withstand ; 
Lord, look and give command. 

Anna Warner. 



JT is better to go at once to Jesus with our 
difficulties. We are worried and perplexed. 
Why not tell Jesus first instead of running with 
our griefs to our friends ? However willing 
they may be, they are often unable to help us. 
The Christian who has learned to lean on Jesus 
for counsel and comfort has learned the secret 
of the Lord, — u the peace that passeth un- 
derstanding," 



FEBRUARY 16. 



47 



For we are saved by hope. — Rom. viii. 24. 

And do not fear to hope. Can poet's brain 
More than the Father's heart rich good invent ? 
Each time we smell the autumn's dying scent 
We know the primrose time will come again ; 
Not more we hope, nor less would soothe our pain. 

George Macdonald. 



E should hope for everything that is 



good/' says the old poet Linus, " be- 
cause there is nothing which may not be hoped 
for, and nothing but what the gods are able 
to give us." Hope quickens all the still parts 
of life, and keeps the mind awake in her most 
remiss and indolent hours. It gives habitual 
serenity and good humor ; it is a kind of vital 
heat in the soul that cheers and gladdens her 
when she does not attend to it. It makes 
pain easy and labor pleasant. 




Joseph Addison. 



48 FEBRUARY 17. 



And the Lord shall guide thee continually, 
and satisfy thy soul in drought. — Isa. lviii. n. 

My Shepherd is the Lord my God, 

There is no want I know ; 
His flocks He leads in verdant meads 

Where tranquil waters flow. 

He doth restore my fainting soul 

With His divine caress, 
And when I stray He points the way 

To paths of righteousness. 

Eugene Field. 



HROUGH every step in life the Shepherd 



offers to guide us, if we will but hear 
His voice and follow Him. He never promises 
smooth paths, but He does promise safe ones. 
If we follow Him we may find the steepest 
cliff " a path of pleasantness/' and the lowest 
vale of humiliation a highway to peace. 




Theodore L. Cuyler. 



FEBRUARY 18. 



49 



Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. — 
Prov. xvi. 20. 

The child leans on its parent's breast, 
Leaves there its cares and is at rest ; 
The bird sits singing- by its nest, 

And tells aloud 
His trust in God, and so is blest 

'Neath every cloud. 

The heart that trusts forever sing's, 
And feels as light as it had wings ; 
A well of peace within it springs, 

Come good or ill. 
Whate'er to-day, to-morrow brings, 

It is His will. 

Isaac Williams. 

T T E who believes that God's will always must 
be done prays not when this or that event 
arises, but ever prays that, more and more, he 
may come into harmony with it. And out of 
this constant prayer of the soul that desires not 
gifts from, but communion with the Giver, 
there comes a sense of trust. 

Francis B. Hornbrooke. 

4 



So 



FEBRUARY 19. 



Thy kingdom come, — Matt. vi. 10. 

Thy kingdom come with power and grace 

To every heart of man ; 
Thy peace, thy joy, thy righteousness, 

In all our bosoms reign. 

Charles Wesley. 
HE kingdom of heaven is not come when 



God's will is our law ; it is come when 
God's will is our will. While God's will is our 
law we are but a kind of noble slaves ; when 
His will is our will we are free children. 

Philamon had gone forth to see the world, 
and he had seen it; and he had learned that 
God's kingdom was not a kingdom of fanatics 
yelling for a doctrine, but of willing, loving, 
obedient hearts. 




Charles Kingsley. 



FEBRUARY 20. 



Behold, I stand at the door and knock. — 
Rev. iii. 20. 

Open the door with shame if you have sinned ; 

If you be sorry, open it with sighs ; 

Albeit the place be bare for poverty, 

And comfortless for lack of plenishing - , 

Be not abashed for that, but open it, 

And take Him in that comes to sup with thee. 



MO power — not even that of God Himself 

* ^ — can open that door from the outside. 

Only the soul itself can open itself. But if, 

with perfect simplicity and unaffectedness, any 

one of us is able to just put aside the bolt of 

his own wilfulness and open his door and say, 

" Almighty God, come in to me ; Spirit of 

Christ, be Thou my guest ; Father, I have 

sinned, forgive me," then it is as if the 

sharper days of winter were melting into the 

approaching spring, and as if one of us came 

down some morning in his heated house, and 

should throw his door open to the gentle air, 

and there should flow in upon him the milder 

freshness and the purer fragrance of a renewing 

and reviving world. ^ ^ ^ 

& Francis G. Peabody. 



52 FEBRUARY 21. 



They that seek the Lord shall not want any 
good thing. — Ps. xxxiv. 10. 

Father ! replenish with Thy grace 

This longing heart of mine ; 
Make it Thy quiet dwelling-place, 

Thy sacred, inmost shrine ! 
Forgive that oft my spirit wears 
Her time and strength in trivial cares ; 
Enfold her in Thy changeless peace, 
So she from all but Thee shall cease. 



OD is Alpha and Omega in the great 



world ; endeavor to make Him so in 
thy little world. Make Him thy evening epi- 
logue and thy morning prologue; practise to 
make Him thy last thought at night when 
thou sleepest, and thy first thought in the 
morning when thou awakest; so shall thy 
fancy be sanctified in the night, and thy un- 
derstanding rectified in the day. So shall thy 
rest be peaceful, thy labors prosperous, and 
thy death glorious. 



Angelus Silesius. 




QUARLES. 



FEBRUARY 22. 



53 



Whosoever will come after me, let him deny 
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. - — 
Mark viii. 34. 

The cross is not so hard to bear 

Since I have learned to say, 
0 Lord, I walk not anywhere 

Unless Thou lead'st the way. 

S. R. Leroy. 

DOTH above and below, which way soever 
thou dost turn thee, everywhere thou 
shalt find the cross; and everywhere of 
necessity thou must have patience if thou 
wilt have inward peace, and enjoy an ever- 
lasting crown. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

To repel one's cross is to make it heavier. 

Henri Frederic Amiel. 



54 FEBRUARY 23. 



/ will not let thee go, except thou bless vie, — 
Gen. xxxii. 26. 

Like a tide our work should rise, 

Each later wave the best ; 
To-day is a king in disguise, 

To-day is the special test. 

Like a sawyer's work is life. — 

The present makes the flaw ; 
And the only field for strife 

Is the inch before the saw. 

John Boyle O'Reilly. 

'THE days are ever divine. They come and 



go like muffled and veiled figures Sent 
from a distant friendly party; but they say 
nothing, and if we do not use the gifts they 
bring they carry them as silently away. 




Ralph Waldo Emerson. 



FEBRUARY 24. 



55 



God is our refuge and strength, a very present 
he/J? in trouble. — Ps, xlvi. i. 

Console thyself with His word of grace, 

And cease thy wail of woe ; 
For His mercy never an equal hath, 

And His love no bounds can know. 
Lean close unto Him in faith and hope ; 

How many like thee have found 
In Him a shelter and home of peace, 

By His mercy compassed round ! 



HERE but in Thee have we a covert from 



storm, or shadow from the heat of life ? 
In our manifold temptations Thou alone know- 
est, and art ever nigh ; in sorrow Thy pity re- 
vives the fainting soul ; in our prosperity and 
ease it is Thy Spirit only that can ween us from 
pride and keep us low. 



John Greenleaf Whittier. 




James Martineau. 



56 



FEBRUARY 25. 



What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do 
justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly 
with thy God? — Micah vi. 8. 

Let the world be better, brighter, 
For your having trod its way ; 

Let your light be seen afar, 
Ere sinks down life's little day. 

Scatter seeds of love and kindness 
As you tread the heavenward road; 

You will find them all again 
In the paradise of God. 

Sister Dora. 
{Dorothy IVyndlow e Pattison.) 



T^HERE is nothing- so powerful as example. 

We put others straight by walking straight 
ourselves. 

Madame Swetchine. 



What do we live for if it is not to make 
life less difficult to each other ! 

George Eliot. 



FEBRUARY 26. 57 



As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I 
comfort you. — Isa. lxvi. 13. 

Speak low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet, 
From out the hallelujahs, sweet and low, 
Lest I should fear and fall, and miss Thee so, 
Who art not missed by any that entreat. 
Speak to me as to Mary at Thy feet ; 
And if no precious gums my hands bestow, 
Let my tears drop, like amber, while I go 
In search of Thy divinest voice, complete 
In humanest affection ; thus, in sooth, 
To lose the sense of losing" ! As a child, 
Whose song bird seeks the woods forevermore, 
Is sung to, in its stead, by mother's mouth, 
Till sinking on her breast, love reconciled, 
He sleeps the faster that he wept before. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 



OD is the God of all comfort, into whose 
^ arms come those that weep, where He 
comforts them, even as a mother comforts her 
child. And the earth itself is rocked, as it were, 
by that same tending, nursing, loving God. 

Henry Ward Beecher. 



58 



FEBRUARY 27. 



God loveth a cheerful giver, — 2 Cor. ix. 7. 

Give ! as the morning that flows out of heaven ; 
Give ! as the waves when their channel is riven ; 
Give ! as the free air and sunshine is given ; 

Lavishly, utterly, joyfully give ; — 
Not the waste drops of thy cup overflowing, 
Not the faint sparks of thy hearth ever glowing, 
Not a pale bud from the June roses blowing, — 

Give as He gave thee, who gave thee to live ! 



E are not at all sure that we shall have 



any possessions, anything of our own 
in the future life, — anything, consequently, to 
give away. Perhaps it will all belong to all. 
So let us have enough of giving while we can, 
and enjoy the best part of possession. 



Rose Terry Cooke. 




Jean Ingelow. 



FEBRUARY 28. 



59 



Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my 
God ; Thy Spirit is good ; lead me into the land 
of uprightness. — Ps. cxliii. 10, 

Though one but say 

"Thy will be done," 
He hath not lost his day 

At set of sun. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 

TT is not always easy to discern the will of 
God ; but if the fountain of our life is kept 
pure, the water of life must flow from it and 
our day's work contribute to the great stream 
of life that flows out from the city of God for 
the healing of the nations ; and in this stream 
all our own little trials get turned into gold. 

Harriet Monsell. 



6o FEBRUARY 29. 



Let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the 
same thing. — Phil. iii. 16. 

Life hath a load 
Which must be carried on, and safely may, 
Yet keep those cares without thee ; let the heart 
Be God's alone, and choose the better part. 
Through all thy actions, counsels, and discourse, 
Let mildness and religion guide thee out ; 
If truth be thine, what needs a brutish force ? 
But what 's not good and just ne'er go about. 

Henry Vaughan. 

ELIZABETH FRY drew up for her own 
guidance the following rules: — 

1 . Never lose any time. 1 do not think that 
lost which is spent in amusement or recreation 
every day ; but always be in the act of being 
employed. 

2. Never err the least in truth. 

3. Never say an ill thing of a person when 
thou canst say a good thing of him : not only 
speak charitably but feel so. 

4. Never be irritable or unkind to anybody. 

5. Never indulge thyself in luxuries that are 
not necessary. 

6. Do all things with consideration ; and 
when thy path to act right is difficult put con- 
fidence in that Power alone which is able to 
assist thee, and exert thy own powers as far as 
they go. 



MARCH 1. 



61 



Be ye kind one to another. — Eph. iv. 32. 

A kindly act is a kernel sown, 
That will grow to a goodly tree, 

Shedding its fruit when time has flown 
Down the gulf of eternity. 

John Boyle O'Reilly. 

All worldly joys go less 
To the one joy of doing kindnesses. 

George Herbert. 

\UR whole social life may be coined into 



utilities: not, to be sure, all of it into 
pounds and talents, but — what is of even 
more importance — into mites and farthings 
of considerate and unceasing kindness. We 
are constantly with recipient souls that take 
from us what will make them happier and 
better if we are truly meek and generous. 
And how many there are to whom in our in- 
tercourse little things are great ! In our own 
households we may diffuse untold happiness by 
the unselfish spirit which is always ready to 
concede and slow to claim. 




Andrew P. Peabody. 



62 



MARCH 2. 



For all that is in the heaven and the earth is 
Thine. — i Chron. xxix. n. 

There shall never be one lost good ! What was shall 

live as before ; 
The evil is null, is nought, is silence implying sound ; 
What was good shall be good, with, for evil, so much 

good more. 

On the earth the broken arc; in heaven the perfect 
round - Robert Browning. 

|VJ O good that has been truly meant, though 
* ^ in the midst of mistakes, shall, in any 
upshot of life, be utterly lost. In the end of 
things the angels shall always come and gather 
the wheat from among the tares. 

Adeline D. T. Whitney. 

No good deed, no genuine sacrifice, is ever 
wasted. If there be good in it, God will use it 
for His own holy purposes ; and whatever of 
ignorance, or weakness, or mistake was mingled 
with it will drop away, as the withered sepals 
drop away when the full flower has blown. 

Frederic W. Farrar. 



MARCH 3. 



63 



She hath done what she could. — Mark xiv. 8. 

And rank for her meant duty, various, 
Yet equal in its worth, done worthily ; 
Command was service, humblest service done 
By willing and discerning souls was glory. 



HIS Bethany loyalty is the simple require- 



ment of religion. Not one cent, not 
one moment, not one loving impulse, not one 
thought, not one syllable of a creed, more than 
comes within the range of your possibilities, is 
expected ; but all of this is expected : nothing 
less will do. God asks for no more, but all 
this He does expect, and man has no right to 
evade it. Let duty be its own reward, love its 
own justification. " She hath done what she 
could," — this is the fulness of the Christian 
excellence ; it is the ultimate standard of 
religion. 



George Eliot. 




Jenkin Lloyd Jones. 



6 4 



MARCH 4. 



Blessed is the man whom Thou chasteneth, O 
Lord, — Ps. xciv. 1 2 . 

I know that trial works for ends 

Too high for sense to trace, 
That oft in dark attire He sends 

Some embassy of grace ; 
May none depart till I have gained 

The blessing which it bears, 
And learn, though late, I entertained 

An angel unawares. 

James Drummond Burns. 

gE not afraid of those trials which God may 
see fit to send upon thee. It is with the 
wind and storm of tribulation that God sepa- 
rates the true wheat from the chaff. Remem- 
ber, therefore, that God comes to thee in thy 
sorrow as really as in thy joys. He lays low 
and He builds up. Thou wilt find thyself far 
from perfection if thou dost not find God in 
everything. 

Miguel Molinos. 



MARCH 5. 



65 



As many as walk according to this rule, peace 
be on them. — Gal. vi. 16. 

The highest culture is to speak no ill ; 
The best reformer is the man whose eyes 
Are quick to see all beauty and all worth, 
And by his own discreet, well-ordered life, 
Alone reproves the erring. 



IKE alone acts upon like. Therefore/do not 



amend by reasoning, but by example ; ap- 
proach feeling by feeling ; do not hope to ex- 
cite love except by love. Be what you wish 
others to become. Let yourself and not your 
words preach. 



A man's conduct is an unspoken sermon. 




Henri Frederic Amiel. 



Henri Frederic Amiel. 



5 



66 



MARCH 6. 



Giving thanks always for all things, — Eph. 



v. 20. 



Whatso it be, howso it be, Amen ! 

Blessed it is believing not to see : 
Now God knows all that is ; and we shall then — 



God's will is best for man, whose will is free ; 
God's will is better to us, yea, than ten 
Desires, whereof He holds and weighs the key 

He knows all wants, allots each where and when — 
Whatso it be ! 

Christina G. Rossetti. 

rHOU alone knowest what is good for me; 



Thou alone art Lord of all ; do therefore 
what seemeth to Thee best. Give to me or 
take from me ; conform my will to Thine ; and 
grant that with humble and perfect submission 
and in holy confidence I may be disposed to 
receive the orders of Thy eternal providence, 
and may equally adore every dispensation which 
shall come to me from Thy hand. 



Whatso it be ! 




Pascal. 



MARCH 7- 



67 



It is a good thing to give thanks unto the 
Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O 
Most High, — Ps. xcii. 1. 

Seven whole days' not one in seven, 

I will praise Thee; 

In my heart, though not in heaven, 
I can raise Thee. 

Small it is, in this poor sort 

To enroll Thee ; 

E'en eternity is too short 

To extol Thee. 

George Herbert. 

T THINK we are not as thankful as we ought 
* to be ; we are lacking in the spirit of praise. 
We are far too much given to complaints and 
wailings, and I do not think these can please 
our Holy Father. If you are seeking to help 
another here, are heaping benefits on any one, 
it is not cheering to listen to a ceaseless tissue 
of lamentations. God expects His blessings to 
be acknowledged, both temporal and spiritual. 

Archer Thompson Gurney. 



68 



MARCH 8. 



Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall 
sustain thee. — Ps. lv. 22. 

Child of my love, lean hard, 
And let me feel the pressure of thy care. 
I know thy burden, child ; I shaped it, 
Poised it in mine own hand, and made no proportion 
In its weight to thine unaided strength ; 
For even as I laid it on I said, 
I shall be near, and while she leans on me 
This burden shall be mine, not hers, 
So shall I keep my child within the circling arms 
Of mine own love. Here lay it down, nor fear 
To impose it upon a shoulder which upholds 
The government of worlds. Yet closer come, 
Thou art not near enough ; I would embrace thy care, 
So I might feel my child reposing on my breast. 
Thou lovest me ? I know it. Doubt not then, 

But loving me lean hard. 

Paul Pastnor. 

IT E that takes his own cares upon himself 
loads himself in vain with an uneasy 
burden. 

Bishop Hall. 



MARCH 9. 



69 



Let your speech be always with grace, sea- 
soned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought 
to answer every ?nan. — Col. iv. 6. 

Govern the lips 
As they were palace doors, the king within ; 
Tranquil and fair and courteous be all words 
Which from that presence win. 

Edwin Arnold. 

your velvet within ; show yourselves 
amiable to those, above all, who live 
with you. 

Joseph Joubert. 

He who governs his tongue is perfectly able 
to control all his passions. 

William Ellery Channing. 



7o 



MARCH 10. 



These are they which came out of great tribula- 
tion, and have washed their robes, and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb. — Rev. vii. 14. 

Constant sunshine, howe'er welcome, 
Ne'er would ripen fruit or flower; 

Giant oaks owe half their greatness 
To the scathing tempest's power. 

Human strength and human greatness 
Spring not from life's sunny side ; 

Heroes must be more than drift-wood 
Floating on a waveless tide. 

A LL the difference there is between what 



looks like a worthless stone and a gem 
is in the cutting and grinding. All the differ- 
ence between bullion and coin stamped with 
the king's face is in the smelting and the mint- 
ing. All the difference between a wilderness 
and a garden is wrought by weeding and prun- 
ing. All the difference between a block of mar- 
ble and a statue is produced by the mallet and 
the chisel. God has for us up yonder, by and 
by, I know not what noble ministries and what 
exalted places of beauty and of power. Since 
He knows what niche we are to fill, trust Him 
to shape us to it. M 3 savage. 




MARCH 11. 



He that hath no rule over his own spirit is 
like a city that is bj'oken down a?id without 
walls. — Prov. xxv. 28. 

Real glory 

Springs from the quiet conquest of ourselves; 
And without that the conqueror is nought 
But the first slave. 

Thomson. 

J^EST not in an ovation, but in a triumph 
over thy passions. Let anger walk hang- 
ing down the head; let malice go manacled 
and envy fettered after thee. Behold within 
thee the whole train of thy trophies, not with- 
out thee. Chain up the unruly legion of thy 
breast, lead thine own captivity captive, and be 
Caesar within thyself. 

Sir Thomas Browne. 



72 



MARCH 12. 



He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth 
up their wounds. — Ps. cxlvii. 3. 

Then sorrow, touched by Thee, grows bright 

With more than rapture's ray, 
As darkness shows us worlds of light 

We never saw by day. 



HEREIN is the blessedness of those that 



mourn? Christ says, in being com- 
forted, in the victory of their faith, in the en- 
durance of love, trust, and patience. Remember, 
until we are thus comforted in our hours of 
sorrow, we are not one with our Leader, nor in 
communion with our Father's Spirit. No one 
will suppose that the blessing of affliction con- 
sists in the suffering it brings. It consists in 
the spiritual response to suffering of one whose 
confidence is in the source of love. 



Thomas Moore. 




John Hamilton Thorn. 



MARCH 13. 



73 



Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think 
anything as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of 
God. — 2 Cor. iii. 5 . 

Leaning on Him, make with reverent meekness 

His own thy will, 
And with strength from Him shall thy utter weakness 

Life's tasks fulfil 

John Greenleaf Whittier. 



/WI OST beautiful when the strength is one of 
humility instead of pride, and the trust 
no more in the resolution we have taken, but 
in the hand we hold. 

John Ruskin. 

Let me truly feel that in myself I am noth- 
ing, and at once through every inlet of my 
soul God comes in and is everything to me. 
And as soon as I feel this, the almightiness of 
God pours through my spirit like a stream, 
and I can do all things through Him that 

strengthens me. 

0 William Mountford. 



74 



MARCH 14. 



See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. — 
Heb. xii. 25. 

I hear it often in the dark, 

I hear it in the light ; 
Where is the voice that calls to me 

With such a quiet might ? 
It seems but echo to my thought, 

And yet beyond the stars ; 
It seems a heart-beat in a hush, 

And yet the planet jars ! 

William Channing Gannett. 

pRECIOUS above the price of the whole 
* earth is every moment God speaks to 
the soul. 

Edward Bouverie Pusey. 

If thou canst for awhile cease from thine 
own speaking and willing, thou shalt hear un- 
speakable words from God. 

Behmen. 



MARCH 15. 



75 



If ye fulfil the royal law according to the 
Scripture, Thou shall love thy neighbor as thy- 
self ye do well. — James ii. 8. 

An arm of aid to the weak, 

A friendly hand to the friendless, 
Kind words so short to speak, 
But whose echo is endless, — 
The world is wide, these things are small, 
They may be nothing, — but they are all. 

Lord Houghton. 

T ET the love of your brethren be as a fire 



within you, consuming that selfishness 
that is so contrary to it, and is so natural to 
men ; let it set your thoughts on work to study 
how to do good to others ; let your love be an 
active love, witnessing within you, and extend- 
ing itself in doing good to the souls and bod- 
ies of your brethren as they need and you 
are able. 




Archbishop Leighton. 



7 6 



MARCH 16. 



My peace I give unto you. — John xiv. 27. 

Then leave thy vain attempts 

To seek for peace ; 
The world can never give 

One soul's release : 
But in thy Saviour's heart 

Securely dwell. 
No pain can harm thee hid 

In that sweet cell. 

Adelaide Anne Procter. 

TJ E says Himself that His peace is not what 
the world giveth. It does not come 
from anything in this life ; it cannot be taken 
away by anything in this life ; it is wholly 
divine- As a white dove looks brighter and 
fairer against a black thunder-cloud, so Christ's 
peace is brightest and sweetest in darkness and 
adversity. 

Harriet Beecher Stowe. 



MARCH 17. 



77 



We then that are strong ought to bear the in- 
firmities of the weak. — Rom. xv. i . 



Ask God to give thee skill 

In comfort's art, 
That thou mayst consecrated be, 

And set apart 
Unto a life of sympathy. 
For heavy is the weight of ill 

In every heart ; 
And comforters are needed much, 
Of Christ-like touch. 



HEY who have undergone and overcome 



1 stand with their keys to open the portals 
of life's great emergencies to their brethren. 
The wondrous power of experience ! And see 
how beautiful and ennobling this makes our 
sorrows and temptations. Every stroke of sor- 
row that issues into light and joy is God put- 
ting into your hand the key of that sorrow, 
to unlock it for all the poor souls whom you 
may see approaching it through all your future 
life. It is a noble thing to take that key and 



Anna E. Hamilton. 




use it. 



Phillips Brooks. 



73 



MARCH 18. 



Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my 
God. — Ps. cxliii. 10. 

Small service is true service while it lasts, 
Of friends, however humble, spurn not one, 

The daisy, by the shadow that it casts, 
Protects the lingering dew-drop from the sun. 

William Wordsworth. 

can all be servants of God wherever 
our lot is cast ; but He gives us differ- 
ent sorts of work, according as He tits us for it 
and calls us to it. 

George Eliot. 

Service is our destiny in life or in death. 
Then let it be my choice, living to serve the 
living, and be fretted uncomplainingly. If I 
can assure myself of doing service, I have my 
home within. 

George Meredith. 



MARCH 19. 



79 



First the blade, then the ear, after that the 
full corn in the ear. — - Mark iv. 28. 

Then bless thy secret growth, nor catch 
At noise, but thrive unseen and dumb ; 

Keep clean, bear fruit, earn life, and watch, 
Till the white-winged reapers come. 



HE Author and Giver of all good things ex- 



pects us to grow and improve, He offers 
to increase in us true religion, to nourish us in 
all goodness. The gospel is a call to progress 
and improvement ; it bids us never tire in our 
works of charity, but as fast as one kind pur- 
pose is accomplished set about another. Let 
charity, gentleness, and love be as the breath 
you draw. 



Henry Vaughan. 




John Keble, 



So 



MARCH 20. 



They helped every one his neighbor ; and every 
one said to his brother, Be of good courage. — 
Isa. xli. 6. 

When no low thoughts of self intrude, 

Angels adjust our rights ; 
And love that seeks its selfish good 

Dies in its own delights. 
How much we take, how little give,— 

Yet every life is meant 
To help all lives ; each man should live 

For all men's betterment. 

Alice Cary. 

pVERY human being whom we approach 
should be the better for us. 

William Ellery Chaining. 

Each of us is bound to make the small 
circle in which he lives better and happier ; 
each of us is bound to see that out of that 
small circle the widest good may flow. 

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. 



MARCH 21. 



81 



What time I am afraid, I will trust in 
T/ie<*. — ¥s. lvi. 3. 

No night so wild but brings the constant sun, 

With love and power untold ; 
No time so dark but through its woof there run 

Some blessed threads of gold. 

0 Light Divine ! We need no fuller test 

That all is ordered well ; 
We know enough to trust that all is best 

Where love and wisdom dwell. 

Christopher Pearse Cranch. 

TT is the easiest thing in the world to obey 
* God when He commands us to do what 
we like, and to trust Him when the path is all 
sunshine. The real victory of faith is to trust 
God in the dark and through the dark. Let 
us be assured of this, that if the lesson and the 
rod are of His appointing, and His all-wise 
love has engineered the tunnels of trial on the 
heavenward road, He will never desert us dur- 
ing the discipline. The vital thing for us is 
not to deny and desert Him. 

Theodore L. Cuyler. 

6 



82 



MARCH 22. 



Be clothed with humility. — i Pet. v. 5 . 

Humility, that low, sweet root, 
From which all heavenly virtues shoot. 

Thomas Moore. 



ET one resolution be mine. Whatsoever 
else thou puttest on, be thou, O my soul, 
clothed with humility. Whatever else thou 
wearest, let this be the garment which wraps 
thee from head to foot, the nearest and closest 
of all. Exchange thou this for no other, 
though, to use the language of an Eastern 
sage, the mantle of Chosroes were offered thee 
in its stead. Richard Chenevix Trench. 



Wouldst thou taste to the full the sweet- 
ness of life? Then keep thyself low at hu- 
mility's feet. The sweetest of the cane is the 
part that grows nearest the earth. 

Feisi. 



MARCH 23. 



83 



Tribulation worketh patience, and patience 
experience, and experience hope. — Rom. v. 3, 4. 

is the road very dreary ? 

Patience yet ! 
Rest will be sweeter if thou art a-weary, 
And after night cometh the morning cheery, — 

Just bide a wee and dinna fret ! 

The clouds have silver lining, 

Don't forget ! 
And though He's hidden, still the sun is shining, 
Courage instead of tears and vain repining, 

Just bide a wee and dinna fret ! 

"DE patient/' said a Scotchman, reprovingly, 
to his little son. 
" What is i to be patient/ Father ? " inquired 
the child. 

" Bide a wee and dinna weary," replied the 
father, with a loving pressure on his shoulder. 

How often God's restless children do not 
wait, and how often they do weary in waiting ! 
Yet He is greatly honored by the trustful spirit, 
that patiently resigns the unfolding of His in- 
scrutable purposes into His hands ; for we know 
that a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of 
God of great price. anna Shipton. 



8 4 



MARCH 24. 



The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants ; 
and none of them that trust in Him shall be 
desolate, — Ps. xxxiv. 22. 

And so beside the silent sea 

I wait the muffled oar ; 
No harm from Him can come to me, 

On ocean or on shore. 

I know not where His islands lift 

Their fronded palms in air ; 
I only know I cannot drift 

Beyond His love and care. 

John Greenleaf Whittier. 

T^O trust is the longest step Godward that 



any of us can take. We cannot by 
searching find out God ; we can only put our- 
selves where God can come to us. He who 
trusts, who believes, knows God. 




Theodore T. Munger. 



MARCH 25. 



85 



The Lord our God will we serve, and His 
voice will we obey. — Joshua xxiv. 24. 

So nigh is grandeur to our dust, 

So near is God to man, 
When duty whispers low, "Thou must," 

The youth replies, " I can." 

Ralph Waldo Emerson. 



HEN in the crisis of your duty the way 



of peace and right summons you with 
its sweet compulsion, it is the call of the Eternal 
Right making itself heard in your waking soul. 
It is the summons of God through the voice 
of duty. Not far away lie the sources of re- 
ligious trust ; not in the evidences of the stars, 
or seas, or ancient man, but here amid the in- 
evitable experiences of our daily mistakes, and 
of our sincere repentances. The life of God 
and the life of man are all interwoven in the 
web of human experiences. 




Francis G. Peabqdy, 



86 



MARCH 26. 



Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go 
forward. — Ex. xiv. 1 5 . 

Therefore think not the Past is wise alone, 
For yesterday knows nothing of the Best, 
And thou shalt love it only as the nest, 

Whence glory-winged things to heaven have flown. 



ET us have done with vain regrets and 



longings for the days that will never be 
ours again. Our work lies in front, not be- 
hind us ; and " forward is our motto. Let 
us not sit with folded hands gazing upon the 
past as if it were the building; it is but the 
foundation. Let us not waste heart and life 
thinking of what might have been, and forget- 
ting the " may be " that lies before us. 



James Russell Lowell. 




Jerome K. Jerome, 



MARCH 27. 



87 



Our help is in the name of the Lord, who 
made heaven and earth. — Ps. cxxiv. 8. 

I heard a voice, a tender voice, soft falling 

t Through the storm ; 
The waves were high, the bitter winds were calling, 
Yet breathing warm 

Of skies serene, of summer uplands lying 

In peace beyond ; 
This tender voice, unto my voice replying, 

Made answer fond. 

Sometimes, indeed, like clash of armies meeting, 

Arose the gale ; 
But over all that sweet voice kept repeating, 

" I shall not fail ! " 

Nora Perry. 

J~^OST thou not know that God is almighty ? 

Dost thou not know that unto God be- 
longeth the kingdom of heaven and earth ? 
Neither have you any protector or helper ex- 
cept God. 

The Koran. 



88 



MARCH 28. 



But let us, who are of the day, be sober, put- 
ting on the breastplate of faith and love ; and 
for an helmet, the hope of salvation. — i Thess. 
v. 8. 

I wake this morn, and all my life 

Is freshly mine to live ; 
The future with sweet promise rife, 

And crowns of joy to give. 

New words to speak, new thoughts to hear, 

New love to give and take ; 
Perchance new burdens I may bear 

For love's own sweetest sake. 

g VERY day that is born into the world comes 
like a burst of music, and rings itself all 
the day through ; and thou shalt make of it a 
dance, a dirge, or a life march as thou wilt. 

Thomas Carlyle. 



MARCH 29. 



89 



Fear thou not, for I am with thee ; be not 
dismayed, for I am thy God ; I will strengthen 
thee, yea, I will help thee. — Isa. xli. 10. 

0 Love Divine, that stoop'st to share 
Our sharpest pang;, our bitterest tear, 

On Thee we cast each earth-born care, 
We fear no ill while Thou art near. 

Though long the weary way we tread, 
And sorrow crown each lingering year, 

No path we shun, no darkness dread, 
Our hearts still whispering, Thou art near. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

TJ E who never connects God with his daily 
life knows nothing of the spiritual mean- 
ings and uses of life ; nothing of the calm, strong 
patience with which ills may be endured ; of 
the gentle, tender comfort which the Father's 
love can minister ; of the blessed rest to be re- 
alized in His forgiving love, His tender Father- 
hood ; of the deep, peaceful sense of the Infinite 
One ever near, a refuge and a strength. 

Frederic W. Farrar, 



90 



MARCH 30. 



Let us love one another, for love is of God; 
and every one that loveth is horn of God, and 
knave th God, - — 1 John iv. 7. 

Our God is love, and that which we miscall 
Evil in this good world that He has made, 
Is meant to be a little, tender shade 

Between us and His g'lory. — that is all ; 

And he who loves the best his fellow-man 

Is loving God the holiest way he can. 

Alice Cary. 

T^HE desire to be beloved is ever restless and 
unsatisfied ; but the love that flows out 
upon others is a perpetual well-spring from on 
high. 

Lydia M. Child. 

Love is God's loaf ; and this is that feeding 
for which we are taught to pray. 

Henry Ward Beecher. 



MARCH 31. 



9i 



Forgive, if ye have aught against any, that 
your Father also which is in heaven may for- 
give you, — Mark xi. 25. 

Gently I took that which ungently came, 
And without scorn forgave ; do thou the same. 
A wrong done to thee think a cat's-eye spark, 
Thou wouldst not see were not thine own heart dark. 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 

J^OES any man wound thee? Not only 
forgive, but work into thy thought intel- 
ligence of the kind of pain, that thou mayst 

never inflict it on another spirit. 

Margaret Fuller. 

Life appears to me too short to be spent in 
nursing animosity or registering wrong. 

Charlotte Bronte. 



92 



APRIL 1. 



Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left 
off his kindness. — Roth ii. 20. 

NOR hath thy knowledge of adversity 
Robbed thee of any faith in happiness, 

But rather cleared thy inner eyes to see 
How many simple ways there are to bless. 

James Russell Lowell. 

JF we had lost our own chief good, other peo- 
ple's good would remain ; and that is worth 
trying for. Some one can be happy. I seemed 
to see that more clearly than ever when I was 
wretched. I can hardly think how I could 
have borne the trouble if that feeling had not 
come to me to make strength. 

George Eliot, 



APRIL 2. 



93 



My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O 
Lord. — Ps. v. 3. 

Lord, in Thy light, oh, let me walk this day, 
By Thy love prompted, act, and speak, and pray, 

As a new creature it becomes to do, 
Whose aim it is, in all his words and ways, 
To set forth daily his Creator's praise, 

And new in heart, in life be also new. 

Lyra Domestica. 

CROM the night our spirit awakeneth unto 
* Thee, O God! for Thy precepts are a 
light unto us. Teach us, O God ! Thy right- 
eousness, Thy commandments, and Thy judg- 
ments. Enlighten the eyes of our mind that 
we sleep not in sin unto death. Drive away 
all darkness from our hearts. Vouchsafe us 
the Sun of righteousness. Guard our life 
from all reproach by the seal of Thy Holy 
Spirit. Guide our steps in the way of peace. 
Grant us to behold the dawn and the day with 
joyf ulness, that we may send up our prayers to 
Thee at eventide. 

Thomas a Kempis. 



94 



APRIL 3. 



Who hath despised the day of small things ? ^- - 
Zech. iv. 10. 

Free men freely work, 
Whoever fears God, fears to sit at ease. 
... Let us be content in work 
To do the thing we can, and not presume 
To fret because it 's little. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 

DEGIN with small things. You cannot enter 
the presence of another human being 
without finding there more to do than you 
or I, or any soul, will ever learn to do perfectly 
before we die. Let us be content to do little, 
if God sets us at little tasks. It is but pride 
and self-will which says, " Give me something 
huge to fight, and I should enjoy that; but 
why make me sweep the dust ? " 

Charles Kingsley. 



APRIL 4. 



95 



/ am the Lord, I change not — Mal. iii. 6. 



Let nothing disturb thee, 

Nothing affright thee; 
All things are passing, 

God never changeth. 
Patient endurance 

Attaineth to all things ; 
Who God possesseth, 

In nothing is wanting ; 

Alone God sufficeth. 



IFE passes, riches fly away, popularity is 



fickle, the senses decay, the world changes, 
friends die. One alone is constant ; One alone 
is true to us; One alone can be true; One 
alone can be all things to us ; One alone can 
supply our needs ; One alone can train us up 
to our full perfection ; One alone can give a 
meaning to our complex and intricate nature ; 
One alone can give us tune and harmony; 
One alone can form and possess us. Are we 
allowed to put ourselves under His guidance ? 
This surely is the only question. 



Santa Teresa's Bookmark. 




John Henry Newman. 



9 6 



APRIL 5. 



Cause me to know the way wherein I should 
7V a Ik. — Ps. cxliii. 8. 



Then a voice within his breast 

Whispered audible and clear, 

As if to the outward ear, 
"Do thy duty, that is best, 
Leave unto thy Lord the rest." 

Henry Wadswortb Longfellow. 



EEP close to duty. Never mind the future, 



if only you have peace of conscience ; if 
you feel yourself reconciled, and in harmony 
with the order of things. Be what you ought 
to be ; the rest is God's affair. It is for Him 
to know what is best. 



Let us stand by our duty, fearlessly and 
effectively. 




Henri Frederic Amiel. 



Abraham Lincoln. 



APRIL 6. 97 



Great peace have they which love Thy law. — 
Ps. cxix. 165. 

Dear Lord and God, incline 

Thine ear unto my call ! 

0 grant me that in all, 
This will of mine 
May still be one with Thine ! 

Teach me to answer still, 
Whate'er my lot may be, 
To all Thou sendest me 

Of good or ill, 

All goeth as God will 



HE root of all dissatisfaction and discontent 



1 with self, and with one's surroundings, 
and with one's prospects, can never be reached 
until we go down to the will of God in our 
soul's birth and soul's mission, and make the 
discovery of that will for us, and the doing it 
our chief aim and hope. No change in life's 
circumstances, no larger work, no happier out- 
look will be enough. We ourselves need to 
be born again ; it is not our outward life that 



Alice Williams. 




needs to be refashioned. 



Newman Smyth. 



7 



9 8 



APRIL 7. 



Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, 
being fruitful in every good work. — Col. i. 10. 

True worth is in being, not seeming, 
In doing each day that goes by 

Some little good, not in dreaming 
Of great things to do by and by. 



OU want to be true, and you are trying to 



be. Learn two things, — never to be dis- 
couraged because good things get on slowly 
here, and never fail daily to do that good 
which lies next your hand. Do not be in a 
hurry, but be diligent. Enter into that sub- 
lime patience of the Lord. 



Alice Cary. 



Not what we think, but what we do, 
Makes saints of us. 



Ibid. 




George Macdonald. 



APRIL 8. 



99 



It is God that girdeth me with strength, and 
maketh my way perfect, — Ps. xviii. 32. 

Even as a nurse, whose child's imperfect pace 

Can hardly lead his foot from place to place, 

Leaves her fond kissing, sets him down to go, 

Nor does uphold him for a step or two ; 

But when she finds that he begins to fall, 

She holds him up and kisses him withal ; — ■ 

So God from man sometimes withdraws His hand 

Awhile to teach his infant faith to stand ; 

But when He sees his feeble strength begin 

To fail, He gently takes him up again. 



HEN the babe puts his little soft hand 



into yours, his hand is as strong as 
yours, since it is yours that guides it ; so, when 
we put our hand into God's, we are by His 
grace as strong as He is, since He leads, and 
we only follow. 



Quarles. 




Henry Ward Beecher. 



100 



APRIL 9. 



Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, 
Rejoice. — Phil, iv. 4. 



For wisely the will of the Lord ordains 
From hour to hour our pleasures and pains ; 
The given pain brines a given might, 
The given pleasure yields rare delight. 
In the heart of man 't is the Spirit's voice 
That crieth ever. " Rejoice ! Rejoice ! " 
He shall cheerfully, gratefully, joyfully live, 
Who taketfa only what God doth give. 

C. W. Harris. 



T 



AKE thy self-denials gayly and cheerfully, 
and let the sunshine of thy gladness fall 
on dark things and bright alike, like the sun- 
shine of the Almighty. 

James Freeman Clarke. 



APRIL 10. 



IOI 



Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. — Matt. 
xi. 28. 

Come, said Jesus' sacred voice, 
Come and make my paths your choice ; 
I will guide you to your home, 
Weary pilgrim, hither come ! 

Sinners, come ! for here is found 
Balm that flows for every wound, 
Peace that ever shall endure, 
Rest eternal, sacred, sure. 



HRIST'S invitation to the weary and heavy 



laden is a call to begin life over again 
upon a new principle. " Watch my way of 
doing things/' He says ; " follow me, take life 
as I take it; be meek and lowly, — and you 
will find rest." 



Anna L^titia Barbauld. 




Henry Drummond. 



102 



APRIL 11. 



And there shall be no more death, neither 
sorrow nor crying, neither shall tJiere be any 
7nore pain ; for the former things are passed 
away, — Rev. xxi. 4. 

Can the bonds that make us here 

Know ourselves immortal, 
Drop away, the foliage sear, 

At life's inner portal ? 
What is holiest below 
Must forever live and grow. 

He who on our earthly path 

Bids us help each other, 
Who His Well-Beloved hath 

Made our Elder Brother, 
Will but clasp the chain of love 
Closer, when we meet above. 

Lucy Larcom. 

OD did not create spirits, and endow them 
with a knowledge of Himself, to allow 
them to forget Him after a brief space. He 
did not unite souls by the spiritual bonds of 
love to separate them again forever. 

Zschokke. 

In heaven hands clasp forever. 

Greek Proverb. 



APRIL 12. 



103 



Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have 
need of all these things. — Matt. vi. 32. 

The dear God hears and pities all ; 

He knoweth all our wants ; 
And what we blindly ask of Him, 

His love withholds or grants. 

And so I sometimes think our prayers 

Might well be merged in one; 
And nest and perch, and hearth and church 

Repeat, "Thy will be done ! " 



HAT Christ's prayer was, all true prayer 



must be ; you must pray with the great 
prayer in sight. You must feel the mountains 
above you while you work upon your little 
garden. Little by little your special wishes 
and the eternal will of God will grow in har- 
mony with one another; all conflict will die 
away, and the great spiritual landscape from 
horizon to horizon will be but one. 



John Greenleaf Whittier. 




Lucy Larcom. 



104 



APRIL 13. 



// is more blessed to give than to receive. — 
Acts xx. 35. 

The heart grows rich in giving, 

All its wealth is living grain, 
Seeds, which mildew in the garden, 

Scattered, fill with gold the plain. 
Is thy burden hard and heavy ? 

Do thy steps drag wearily ? 
Help to bear thy brother's burden, — 

God will bear both it and thee. 

C VERY good act is charity. Putting a wan- 
^ derer in the right way is charity. Re- 
moving stones and thorns from the road is 
charity. Smiling in your brother's face is 

charit y- Mahomet. 

To him who gives but a drop of water to 
the poor unselfishly, it will be a living foun- 
tain in paradise. Therefore seek to mingle 
with the poor, the weak, the broken-hearted, 
that thou be not too great a stranger to some 
of the angels who will greet thee in heaven. 



APRIL 14. 



105 



And let its not be weary in well doing ; for 
in due season we shall reap if we faint not. — 
Gal. vi. 9. 

A commonplace life we say, and we sigh ; 

But why should we sigh as we say ? 
The commonplace sun in the commonplace sky 

Make up the commonplace day : 
The moon and the stars are commonplace things, 
And the flower that blooms, and the bird that sings ; 
But dark were the world and sad our lot, 
If the flowers failed and the sun shone not ; 
And God, who studies each separate soul, 
Out of commonplace lives makes His beautiful whole. 



HE course of life is a thousand trifles, then 



1 some crisis, and again a thousand trifles 
and a crisis; nothing but green leaves under 
common sun and shadow; and then a storm 
or a rare June day. And far more than the 
storm or the perfect day the common sun and 
common shadow do to make the autumn rich. 
It is the " every days " that count. They must 
be made to tell, or the years have failed. 



Susan Coolidge. 




William Channing Gannett. 



io6 



APRIL 15. 



Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh 
to you. — James iv. 8. 



Dear Father, when we call on Thee, 
Bow down Thy gracious ear ; 

Our hearts would fall us, Lord, indeed, 
If Thou refused to hear. 



TTEAVEN is never deaf but when man's 
171 heart is dumb - QUARLES. 



The action of prayer is as though there 
were a chain of light let down from the 
heights of heaven and reaching to earth, and 
as we grasp it first with the one hand and then 
with the other, we seem to draw it to us, while 
really we are raised by it to the loftier splendor 
of the light ; or as though we were on ship- 
board, and straining at a rope fastened to a 
rock and thrown out to help us. We do not 
draw the rock to ourselves, but ourselves and 
ship to the rock. 

Dionysius the Areopagite. 



APRIL 16. 



107 



Thei'efore for Thy name's sake lead me and 
guide me, — Ps. xxxi. 3. 



My Father, God, lead on ! 
Calmly I follow where Thy guiding- hand 
Directs my steps ; I would not trembling stand, 

Though all before the way 

Is dark as night ; I stay 

My soul on Thee, and say, 
Father, I trust Thy love, lead on ! 

R. Palmer. 



LL virtue consists in having a willing 



heart; God will lead you as if by the 
hand, if only you do not doubt, and are filled 
with love for Him rather than fear for your- 
self. 




Fenelon. 



io8 



APRIL 17. 



Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil 
the law of Christ. — Gal. vi. 2. 

What is the real good ? 
I asked in musing mood. 
Order, said the law-court ; 
Knowledge, said the school ; 
Truth, said the wise man ; 
Pleasure, said the fool ; 
Love, said the maiden ; 
Beauty, said the page ; 
Freedom, said the dreamer ; 
Home, said the sage ; 
Fame, said the soldier ; 
Equity, the seer : — 
Spake my heart full sadly, 
" The answer is not here." 
Then within my bosom, 
Softly this I heard, 
' ' Each heart holds the secret, 
Kindness is the word ! " 

John Boyle O'Reilly. 

BUT now God has so ordained it that we 
should learn to bear one another's bur- 
dens, for there is no one who has not some 
defect, no one without some burden, no one 
independent of others, no one wise enough of 
himself; but we ought to bear with one an- 
other, comfort one another, help, instruct, and 
advise one another. Thomas a Kempis. 



APRIL 18. 



109 



God is with thee in all that thou doest. — 
Gen. xxi. 22. 

To duty firm, to conscience true, 

However tried and pressed ; 
In God's clear sight high work we do, 

If we but do our best. 

T ET this day's performance of the meanest 
duty be thy religion. 

Margaret Fuller. 



Follow duty if you would know the 
Christ-like calm in the presence of wrong ; 
follow duty if you would change resentment 
into patience, resistance into forgiveness. Duty 
is the great mountain road to God. 

Jenkin Lloyd Jones. 



I IO 



APRIL 19. 



Many waters cannot quench love, neither can 
the floods drown it, — Song of Solomon viii. 7. 

God scatters love on every side 

Freely among- His children all, 
And always hearts are lying open wide, 

Wherein some grains may fall. 

James Russell Lowell. 

HTHE Maker has linked together the whole 



race of man with this chain of love. I 
like to think that there is no man but has had 
kindly feelings for some other, and he for 
his neighbor, until we bind together the whole 
family of Adam. Nor does it end here; it 
joins heaven and earth together. If identity 
survives the grave, as our faith tells us, is it 
not a consolation to think that there may be 
one or two souls among the purified and just 
whose affection watches us invisible, and fol- 
lows the poor sinner on earth ? 




William Makepeace Thackeray. 



APRIL 20. 



in 



In Thy light shall we see light. — Ps. xxxvi. 9. 

We older children grope our way 

From dark behind to dark before ; 
And only when our hands we lay, 
Dear Lord, in Thine, the night is day, 
And there is darkness nevermore. 

Reach downward to the sunless days, 
Wherein our guides are blind as we, 

And faith is small and hope delays ; 

Take Thou the hands of prayer we raise, 
And let us feel the light of Thee ! 



MAN who looks toward the light sees no 



shadow; a man who walks toward the 
light leaves darkness behind him. People get 
in darkness by turning away from the light. 
They hide in obscure corners ; they bury them- 
selves in nooks, where the Sun of righteousness 
cannot reach them ; they close their blinds and 
shutters, and wonder that they have no light. 
A house may be dark, but it is not the fault of 
the sun. A soul may be dark, but it is not 
because the Light of the World does not shed 



John Greenleaf Whittier. 




beams abroad. 



Armory. 



I 12 



APRIL 21. 



Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable 
gift. — 2 Cor. ix. 15. 



But 0 Thou bounteous giver of all good ! 
Thou art of all Thy gifts Thyself the crown ; 
Give what Thou canst, without Thee we are poor, 
And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away. 



OD is continually giving. He will not 



withhold from you or me. I hold up 
my little cup, and He fills it full. If yours is 
greater, rejoice in that, and bring it to the same 
urn. Were your little cup to become as large 
as the Pacific Sea, He still would fill it. 



William Cowper. 




Theodore Parker. 



APRIL 22. 



113 



Every purpose of the Lord shall be per- 
formed. — Jer. li. 29. 



Without God's guiding finger to point the how or where : 



Nor question which is better to serve Him here or there. 

Margaret J. Preston. 

T^O wish to serve Him in one place rather 



than in another, by such and such a way, 
and not by the opposite one, is to wish to serve 
Him in our own way and not in His. But to 
be equally ready for all things, to accept every- 
thing and reject nothing, to leave one's self 
like a toy in the hands of Providence, — this 
is serving Him by renouncing self, this is treat- 
ing Him truly as God, and ourselves as crea- 
tures made only for Him. 



At best our least endeavor 
Must faint and fail forever, 



Then let us choose His choosing, 
All selfish choice refusing, 




Fenelon. 



S 



ii4 



APRIL 23. 



He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God 
is love. — 1 John iv. 8. 

Yet while I love, say God the most, I deem 
That I can never love you overmuch ; 

I love Him more, so let me love you too ; 
Yea, as I apprehend it, love is such 

I cannot love you if I love not Him, 
I cannot love Him if I love not you. 



OVE to the Lord cannot possibly exist 



apart from neighborly love. For the 
Lord's love is love to the whole human race, 
which He desires to save eternally, and to ad- 
join entirely to Himself, so as for none of them 
to perish. Wherefore, whosoever has love to 
the Lord has the Lord's love, and cannot help 
loving his neighbor. 



Christina G. Rossetti. 




Emaistjel Swedenborg. 



APRIL 24. 



115 



Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose 
mind is stayed on Thee ; because he trusteth in 
Thee. — Isa. xxvi. 3. 

Oh, this is blessing, this" is rest ! 

Into Thine arms, 0 Lord, I flee ; 
I hide me in Thy faithful breast, 

And pour out all my soul to Thee. 

0 tenderness ! 0 truth divine ! 
Lord, I am altogether Thine. 

1 have bowed down, — I need not flee, — 
Peace, peace is mine in trusting Thee ! 

Anna LvEtitia Waring. 

DLACE your whole trust in the Lord; let 
Him alone be your fear and your love. 
He Himself will answer for you, and will do 
what is best for you. Here you have " no 
continuing city/' and wherever you are you 
are a stranger and a pilgrim ; nor will you 
ever find rest until you are inwardly united to 
Christ. 

Thomas a Kempis. 



n6 



APRIL 25. 



Blessed is the 111 C1 11 n ihom Thou chastenest O 
Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law. — Ps. 
xciv. 12. 

Do not cheat thy heart, and tell her, 

" Grief will pass away ; 
Hope for fairer things to-morrow, 

And forget today." 
Tell her, if you will, that sorrow 

Need not come in vain; 
Tell her that the lesson taught her 

Far outweighs the pain. 

Adelaide Anne Procter. 

TT would be a poor result of all our anguish 
' and our wrestling if we won nothing but 
our old selves at the end of it ; if we could return 
to the same blind loves, the same self-confident 
blame, the same light thoughts of human suf- 
fering, the same frivolous gossip over blighted 
human lives, the same feeble sense of the Un- 
known, toward which we have sent forth irre- 
pressible cries in our loneliness. Let us rather 
be thankful that our sorrow lives in us as an 
indestructible force, only changing its form 
as forces do, and passing from pain into 
sympathy. George Eliot< 



APRIL 26. 



117 



For the Lord God will help me. — Isa. 1. 7. 

Be but faithful, that is all ; 
Go right on, and close behind thee 
There shall follow still, and find thee, 
Help, sure help ! 

Arthur Hugh Clough. 

^/"HAT I can do with my single arm may 
be mean enough ; but that is not the 
question. The thing to consider is, what can I 
do with God to help me ? And the difference 
of the one and the other is the difference be- 
tween a man trying to push a train of cars 
up grade by his single puny strength, and the 
same man on a locomotive with the steam 
up, moving the whole mass by a turn of the 
wrist. 

Robert Collyer. 



n8 



APRIL 27. 



And now I exhort you to be of good cheer.— 
Acts xxvii. 22. 



Make me as one that casteth not by day 

A dreary shadow, but reflecting aye 

One little beam, loved, warmed, and golden, caught 

From the bright sun that lights our daily way. 

OU find yourself refreshed by the presence 



of cheerful people ; why not make ear- 
nest efforts to confer that pleasure on others ? 
You will find half the battle is gained if you 
will never allow yourself to say anything 
gloomy. 




Lydia M. Child. 



APRIL 28. 



119 



Give me thine heart. — Prov. xxiii. 26. 



What can I give Him, 

Poor as I am ? 
If I were a shepherd, 

I would bring a lamb ; 
If I were a wise man, 

I would do my part ; 
Yet what can I give Him ? — 

Give my heart. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 

Q LORD ! take my heart, for I cannot give 
it ; and when Thou hast it, oh, keep it ! 
for I cannot keep it for Thee ; and save me in 
spite of myself, for Jesus Christ's sake. 

Fenelon. 



120 



APRIL 29. 



Make sure thy friend, — Prov. vi. 3. 

Believe me better than my best, 
And stronger than my strength can hold, 
Until your royal faith transmutes 
My pebbles into gold. 



O win and hold a friend, we are compelled 



1 to keep ourselves at his ideal point, and 
in turn our love makes on him the same ap- 
peal. All around the circle of our best beloved, 
it is this idealizing that gives to love its beauty, 
and its pain, and its mighty leverage on char- 
acter, — its beauty, because that idealizing is the 
secret of love's glow; its pain, because that 
idealizing makes the constant peril of its van- 
ishing ; its leverage to uplift character, because 
this same idealizing is a constant challenge be- 
tween every two, compelling each to be his 
best. " What is the secret of your life ? " asked 
Mrs. Browning of Charles Kingsley ; " tell me, 
that I may make mine beautiful too." He 
replied, " I had a friend." 



Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. 




William Chaining Gannett. 



APRIL 30. 



121 



Love is the fulfilling of the law. — Rom. xiii. 10. 



And see how everywhere 
Love comforts, strengthens, helps, and saves us all ; 
What opportunities of good befall 

To make life sweet and fair. 



H ! let us not wait to be just or pitiful or 



demonstrative toward those we love un- 
til they or we are struck down by illness, or 
threatened with death. Life is short, and we 
have never too much time for gladdening the 
hearts of those who are travelling the dark 
journey with us. Oh ! be swift to love, make 
haste to be kind. 



Celia Thaxter. 




Henri Frederic Amiel. 



122 



MAY 1. 



For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over 
and gone ; the flowers appear on the earth, the 
time of tl e singing of birds is come. — Song of 
Solomon ii. n, 12. 

The year 's at the spring, 
And day 's at the morn; 
Morning 's at seven ; 
The hill-side's dew-pearled; 
The lark's on the wing; 
The snail 's on the thorn ; 
God's in His heaven ; 
All's right with the world. 

Robert Browning. 

HP HAT is not an enviable nature that hears 
* no strange melodies hinting of heaven 
through the marches of the year; that sees 
no glorious signs hung out on earth and sky 
of an infinite love that is never forgetful and 
never unkind; that pauses not with reverent 
spirit to ponder the lesson that is told in grass 
and tree and flower ; and that feels no benedic- 
tion in the bright air and palpitating sky. He 
may be just to his neighbor, industrious and 
virtuous ; but he does not understand the mean- 
ing of Jesus in the fields of Galilee, pointing to 
the birds and lilies, and telling of our Father's 

Care * HORATIO N. POWERS. 



MAY 2. 



123 



Blessed ai-e they that mourn, for they shall be 
comforted, — Matt. v. 4. 

Oh, deem not they are blest alone 
Whose lives a peaceful tenor keep ; 

The Power who pities man has shown 
A blessing for the eyes that weep, 

For God hath marked each sorrowing day, 
And numbered every secret tear ; 

And heaven's long age of bliss shall pay 
For all His children suffer here. 

William Cullen Bryant. 

OD washes the eyes by tears until they 



can behold the invisible land where tears 
shall come no more. O Love ! O Affliction ! 
ye are the guides that show us the way through 
the great airy space where our loved ones 
walked. God teaches us, while yet our sor- 
row is wet, to follow on and find our dear ones 
in heaven. 




Henry Ward Beecher. 



124 



MAY 3. 



He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice 
of thy cry. — Isa. xxx. 19. 

Father ! before Thy footstool kneeling, 
Once more my heart goes up to Thee; 

For aid, for strength, to Thee appealing, 
Thou who alone canst succor me. 

And oh ! in my exceeding weakness, 
Make Thy strength perfect ; Thou art strong ! 

Aid me to do Thy will with meekness, 
Thou to whom all my powers belong. 



HERE is no good in praying for anything, 



unless you will also try for it. All the 
sighs and supplications in the world will not 
bring wisdom to the heart that fills itself with 
folly every day, or mercy to the soul that sinks 
itself in sin, or usefulness and honor to the life 
that wastes itself in vanity and inanity. 




Henry J. Van Dyke, 



MAY 4. 



125 



Watch therefore ; for ye know not what hour 
your Lord doth come, — Matt. xxiv. 42. 

Think not I dread to see my spirit fly 
Through the dark gates of fell mortality; 
Death has no terrors when the life is true; 
'T is living ill that makes us fear to die. 

Omar Khayyam. 

^^yHEN the hour of death comes, — that 
comes to high and low alike, — then 
it's na what we hae dune for ourselves, but 
what we hae dune for others that we think on 
maist pleasantly. 

Sir Walter Scott. 

When a man dies, they who survive him 
ask what property he has left behind. The 
angel who bends over the dying man asks 
what good deeds he has sent before him. 

The Kcrran. 



126 



MAY 5. 



/ have learned in whatsoever state I am, 
therewith to be content, — Phil. iv. n. 



But those that are contented, 

However things do fall, 
Much anguish is prevented, 

And they soon freed from all. 
They finish all their labors 

With much felicity; 
Their joy in trouble savors 

Of perfect piety. 



HE fountain of content must spring up in 



the mind; and she who has so little 
knowledge of human nature as to seek happi- 
ness by changing anything but her own dispo- 
sition, will waste her life in fruitless efforts, 
and multiply the griefs which she proposes to 
remove. 



Anne Collins. 




Ben Jonson. 



MAY 6. 



127 



The Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with 
thee ; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. — 
Deut. xxxi. 6. 

Yet if we will one Guide obey, 
The dreariest path, the darkest way, 
Shall issue out in heavenly day ; 

And we, on divers shores now cast, 
Shall meet, our perilous voyage past, 
All in our Father's house at last. 

Richard Chenevix Trench. 

CO long as our existence lasts, we must not 
give up the duty of cheerfulness and 
hope. He who has guided us through the 
day, will guide us through the night also. 
The pillar of darkness often turns into a pil- 
lar of fire. Have patience and perseverance; 
believe that there is still a future before us, 
and we shall at last reach the haven where we 
would be. 

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. 



128 



MAY 7. 



Let this mind be in you which was also in 
Christ Jesus. — Phil. ii. 5. 



E cannot gather too much of the Chris- 



tian spirit, — the spirit of forbearance 
and peace and sacrifice ; the spirit of brother- 
hood and charity ; the spirit of purity and de- 
votion to Him through whom come all that 
renders life noble and true. 



Teach me, then, 



To harmonize the discord of my life, 
And stop the painful jangle of these wires. 
That is a task impossible, until 
You tune your heart-strings to a higher key 
Than earthly melodies. 



Longfellow : Michael Angelo, 




Horatjo N. Powers. 



MAY 8. 



129 



See that none render evil for evil unto any 
man ; but ever follow that which is good, — 
1 Thess. v. 15. 



The fairest action of our human life 

Is scorning to revenge an injury : 
He who forgives without a further strife, 

His adversary's heart to him doth tie ; 
And 't is a firmer conquest, truly said, 
To win the heart than overthrow the head. 

Lady Elizabeth Carew. 



J_J ATH any wronged thee ? Be bravely re- 
venged ; slight it, and the work 's begun ; 
forgive it, 't is finished : he is below himself 
that is not above an injury. 

OUARLES. 



A more glorious victory cannot be gained 
over another than this, that when the injury 
began on his part, the kindness should begin 
on ours. 

Tillotson. 



130 



MAY 9. 



In Thy presence is fulness of joy, — Ps. xvi. 1 1 . 

0 Friend of souls ! 't is well with me 

Whene'er Thy love my spirit calms; 
From sorrow's dungeon forth I flee, 

And hide me in Thy sheltering arms. 
The night of weeping flies away 
Before the heart-reviving ray 

Of love that beams from out Thy breast ; 
Here is my heaven on earth begun ; 
Who were not joyful had he won 

In Thee, 0 God ! his joy and rest. 

WOLFGANG DERSLER. 

\X/E can even here be with God, so long as 
we bear God within us. We should 
be able to see without sadness our most holy 
wishes fade away like sun-flowers, because the 
sun above us still forever beams, eternally 
makes new and cares for all. And we must 
not so much prepare for eternity as plant eter- 
nity in our hearts, — eternity serene and pure, 
full of depth, full of light and of all else. 

Jean Paul Richter. 



MAY 10. 



131 



Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew 
it not. — Gen. xxviii. 16. 

Since God doth will that some shall dwell at ease, 
And others shall know hardness ; this is sure, 

The lot that fits each nature He foresees ; 
And wherefore murmur when we must endure ? 

Some day His loving wisdom will be plain 

As the sweet sunshine following after rain. 

Mary Bradley. 

J~^0 not despise your situation; in it you 
must act, suffer, and conquer. From 
every point on earth we are equally near to 
heaven and to the Infinite. 

Henri Frederic Amiel. 

Accept your lot as a man does a piece of 
rugged ground, and begin to get out the rocks 
and roots, to deepen and mellow the soil, to 
enrich and plant it. 

Henry Ward Beecher. 



132 



MAY 11. 



And the Lord shall help them, and deliver 
them , , . because they trust in Him. — Ps. 
xxxvii. 40. 



Be bounteous in thy faith, for not misspent 

Is confidence unto the Father lent ; 

Thy need is sown and rooted for His rain. 

His thoughts are as thine own ; nor are His ways 

Other than thine, but by their loftier sense 

Of beauty infinite and love intense. 

Work on. One day, beyond all thought of praise, 

A sunny joy will crown thee with its rays ; 

Nor other than thy need and recompense. 

George Macdonald. 



JLJAVE faith in God, think noble things of 
God ; be sure that trust in the righteous 
God means the ultimate triumph of good over 
evil. 

Frederic W. Farrar. 



MAY 12. 



133 



Lord, increase our faith. — Luke xvii. 5. 



The billows swell, the winds are high, 
Clouds overcast my wintry sky ; 
Out of the depths to Thee I call, — 
My fears are great, my strength is small. 

0 Lord ! the pilot's part perform. 
And guard and guide me through the storm, 
Defend me from each threatening ill, 
Control the waves, say, " Peace, be still." 

William Cowper. 

T F, like Peter, we fix our eyes on Jesus, we 
* too may walk triumphantly over the 
swelling waves of disbelief, and unterrified 
amid the rising winds of doubt; but if we 
turn our eyes away from Him in whom we 
have believed, if, as is so easy to do, and as 
we are so much tempted to do, we look rather 
at the power of those terrible and destructive 
elements than at Him who can help and save, 
— then we too shall inevitably sink. 

Frederic W. Farrar. 



134 



MAY 13. 



Thou wilt show me the path of life ; in Thy 
presence is fulness of joy. — Ps. xvi. 1 1 . 

I need Thy presence every passing hour ; 
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power ? 
Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be \ 
Through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me ! 



OU remember the old story of how 



Michael Angelo wore ever on his fore- 
head, fastened in his artist's cap, a lighted 
candle, which always shone brightly on his 
work, and kept his shadow from falling on 
it. If I could always have thus the light of 
Christ's felt presence ever falling onwards on 
my path, keeping the shadow of self behind 
and out of sight, ah, what an easy climb it 
would be then ! 



Henry F. Lyte. 




/;/ the Mists. 



MAY 14. 



135 



According to the eternal purpose. — Eph. 
iii. 11. 

One small life in God's great plan, 
How futile it seems as the ages roll ! 

Do what it may, or strive how it can, 
To alter the sweep of the infinite whole ; 

A single stitch in an endless web, 

A drop in the ocean's flow and ebb. 

But the pattern is rent where the stitch is lost, 

Or marred where the tangled threads have crossed ; 

And each life that fails of its true intent 

Mars the perfect plan that its Master meant. 

Susan Coolidge. 



DEMEMBER that you are an actor of just 
1^ such a part as is assigned you by the 
poet of the play : of a short part, if the part 
be short ; of a long part, if the part be long. 
Should he wish you to act the part of a beggar, 
take care to act it naturally and nobly; and 
the same if it be the part of a lame man or a 
ruler. For this is in your power, to act well the 
part assigned to you ; but to choose that part 
is the function of another. 



136 



MAY 15. 



For what dost thou make request? — Neh. ii. 4. 

Oh, let me feel Thee ever nigh me ! 

And seek Thy smile all gifts above ; 
No good thing will Thy grace deny me, — 

The object of Thy changeless love. 

Anna Shipton. 

T F we pray for any earthly blessing, we must 
pray for it solely " if it be God's will," " if 
it be for our highest good ; " but for the best 
things we may pray without reservation, cer- 
tain that if we ask, God will grant them. No 
man ever yet asked to be, as the days pass by, 
more and more noble, and sweet and pure and 
heavenly-minded ; no man ever yet prayed 
that the evil spirits of hatred and pride and 
passion and worldliness might be cast out of 
his soul — without his petition being granted, 
and granted to the letter. 

Frederic W. Farrar. 



MAY 16. 



137 



Therefore will not we fear. — Ps. xlvi. 2. 



I see the germ to the sunlight reach, 

And the nestlings know the old bird's speech; 

I do not see who is there to teach. 

I see the hare from the danger hide, 

And the stars through the pathless spaces ride; 

I do not see that they have a guide. 

He is eyes for all who is eyes for the mole, 
All motion goes to the rightful goal ; 
O God ! I can trust for the human soul. 



HE providence of God, that cares for the 



1 universe as a whole, that takes it at the 
beginning and holds it to the consummation, 
that we cannot see or know, that we can only 
dimly guess, — this same mighty, all-grasping 
order of God's providence considers my affairs ; 
not simply nations, not simply cities, not sim- 
ply families, but you and me, the leaf on the 
tree, the bird that sings on the bough, the 
flower that springs out of the sod. 



Charles G. Ames. 




M. J. Savage. 



138 



MAY 17. 



The poor always ye have with you. — John 
xii. 8. 

Our Lord and Master 
When He departed left us in His will 
As our best legacy on earth, the poor : 
These we have always with us ; had we not, 
Our hearts would grow as hard as are the stones. 

""THE poor are always with us. The way- 



farers come to us continually, and they 
do not come by chance. God sends them. 
And as they come, with their white faces and 
their poor, scuffling feet, they are our judges. 
Not merely by whether we give, but by how 
we give, and by what we give, they judge us. 
Thank God ! there are some men and women, 
full of the power of the gospel, who cannot 
rest satisfied till they have opened their very 
hearts, and given the poor wayfaring men the 
only thing which is really their own, — them- 
selves, their faith, their energy, their hope of 
God. 




Phillips Brooks. 



MAY 18. 



139 



/ must work the works of Him that sent me, 
while it is day ; the night cometh* when no man 
can work. — John ix. 4. 

Rest not content in thy darkness, a clod ; 
Work for some good, be it ever so slowly; 
Cherish some flower, be it ever so lowly ; 
Labor ! — all labor is noble and holy ; 
Let thy great deeds be thy prayer to thy God. 

Frances S. Osgood. 

D EM EMBER now and always that life is no 
idle dream, but a solemn reality, based 
upon eternity and encompassed by eternity. 
Find out your task, stand to it; for the night 
cometh. when no man can work. 

Thomas Carlyle. 



140 



MAY 19. 



Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast 
out. — John vi. 37. 

The beckoning of a Father's hand we follow, — 
His love alone is there, 
No curse, no care. 

Edward Rowland Sill. 

THE painter smiled at her in return, and 
said, " Had you any children in the old 
time ? " 

She paused a little before she replied : "I 
had children in love, but none that were born 
mine." 

" It is the same/' he said, — " it is the same ; 
and if one of them had sinned against you, in- 
jured you, done wrong in any way, would you 
have cast him off, or what would you have 
done ? " 

" Oh ! " said the little Pilgrim again, with a 
vivid light of memory coming into her face, 
which showed she had no need to think of this 
as something that might have happened, but 
knew, " I brought him home ; I nursed him 
well again ; I prayed for him night and day. 
Did you say 6 cast him off/ when he had 
most need of me ? Then I never could have 
loved him." 

" Then you think you love better than our 
Father," he said. M 0 w qliphant. 



MAY 20. 



141 



Be not overcome of evil, btit overcome evil 
with good, — Rom. xii. 21. 



The common problem, yours, mine, every one's, 
Is, not to fancy what were fair in life, 
Provided it could be, but finding first 
What may be, then find how to make it fair. 



HIS world is a world of men, and these 



men are our brothers. We must not 
banish from us the divine breath; we must 
love. Evil must be conquered by good ; and 
before all things, one must keep a pure 
conscience. 



Robert Browning. 




Henri Frederic Amiel. 



142 



' MAY 21. 



Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, — 
i Sam. iv. 9. 

Oh, this battle-field vast of the world, 
This trample and rush of the foe, 

This guage that forever is hurled, 
This ceaseless recoil of the blow. 

This stringent command of the King", 
Proclaimed through His armaments wide, 

That none of His soldiers shall fling 
Their armor one moment aside. 



IFE is not victory, but battle. Fight on, 



• fight on ! The perfect character shall 
come at last. What will it be to fight no 
more ? Shall we then forget the battles ? 
Shall we then forget our sins ? Why should 
we ? Hated, renounced, subdued, let them 
hang on the walls of memory like the shields 
of vanquished enemies. Be patient a little 
longer. By and by in our hushed and wait- 
ing chambers, each in his turn, we shall heal 
the sunset gun. 



Margaret J. Preston. 




ROSWELL DWIGHT HITCHCOCK. 



MAY 22. 



143 



Blessed are they that do His commandments. — 
Rev. xxii. 14. 

Mortal, that standest on a point of time, 

With an eternity on either hand, 
Thou hast one duty above all sublime, 

Where thou art placed serenely there to stand. 

Lord Houghton. 

E did not come to our work by accident. 
We did not choose it for ourselves ; but 
under much which may wear the appearance 
of accident and self-choosing, came to it by 
God's leading and appointment. How will 
this consideration help us to appreciate justly 
the dignity of our work, though it were far 
humbler work, even in the eyes of men, than 
that of any of us here. 

Richard Chenevix Trench. 



H4 



MAY 23. 



God shall supply all your need. — Phil, iv. 19. 

I LOOK to Thee in every need, 

And never look in vain ; 
I feel Thy touch. Eternal Love, 

And all is well again ; 
The thought of Thee is mightier far 
Than sin and pain and sorrow are. 

Discouraged in the work of life, 

Disheartened by its load, 
Shamed by its failures or its fears, 

I sink beside the road; 
But let me only think of Thee, 
And then new heart springs up in me. 



HY God shall supply every need. Here is 



1 a key to open every door before which we 
pause, saying, " How shall I get through ? " — 
a mighty master-key for the regions of Giant 
Despair, for every lo:k in Doubting Castle. 
" I have a key in my bosom called Promise," 
said Hopeful ; and he had forgotten to take it 
out. 



Samuel Longfellow. 




Anna B. Warner. 



MAY 24. 



145 



Who give 'th songs in the night. — Job xxxv. 10. 

To weary hearts that rest on Thee, 

Thy tender est love is shown ; 
And Thou hast many hidden joys 

And comforts for Thine own, 
And fountains of reviving strength 

The world has never known. 



NY man can sing by day; but only he 



whose heart has been tuned by the gra- 
cious hand of Jehovah can sing in the dark- 
ness. The things of earth may satisfy for the 
hours of prosperity ; but only the peace of 
God can give gladness in the darkness of ad- 
versity. God gives joy in sorrow ; and when 
the sad one sings through his tears, then the 
Lord comes out to him with new and more 
tender assurances, so that by his very hymn 
he is made more gladsome. That which is 
born of trust rises into rapture. 



T. H. M. 




William M. Taylor. 



10 



146 



MAY 25. 



The merciful man doeth good to his own 
soul. — Prov. xi. 17. 

The quality of mercy is not strain'd; 
It droppeth as the gentle dew from heaven 
Upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed, — 
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 



E are unmerciful when without necessity 



we are judges of evil thoughts, when 
we suspect meanness, littleness, untruthfulness 
— not to speak of worse surmisings — in oth- 
ers. The merciful in thought give no room in 
their hearts for suspicions such as these. They 
do not secretly impute evil. 



Shakespeare. 




Richard Chenevix Trench. 



MAY 26. 



147 



He that is faithful in that which is least is 
faithful also in much. — Luke xvi. 10. 

Think naught a trifle, though it small appear ; 
Small sands the mountains, moments make the year, 
And trifles life. 



CCURATE and careful detail, the mind- 



ing of the common occasions and small 
things, combined with general scope and vigor, 
is the secret of all the efficiency and success in 
the world. It is only thus that any disciple 
will become efficient in the service of his Mas- 
ter. He cannot do up his works of usefulness 
by the prodigious stir and commotion of a few 
extraordinary occasions. Laying down great 
plans, he must accomplish them by great in- 
dustry, by minute attention, by working out 
his way as God shall assist him. 



Young. 




Horace Bushnell. 



148 



MAY 27. 



Wherefore, beloved . . . be diligent that ye 
may be found of Him in peace, without spot, 
and blameless. — 2 Pet. iii. 14. 

Thou must be true thyself, 

If thou the truth would' st teach; 

Thy soul must overflow, if thou 
Another's soul would' st reach; 

It needs the overflow of heart 
To give the lips full speech. 

Think truly, and thy thoughts 

Shall the world's famine feed; 
Speak truly, and each word of thine 

Shall be a fruitful seed ; 
Live truly, and thy life shall be 

A great and noble creed. 



E know no truth except by action. We 



v v can teach no vital truth except through 
the life. We cannot attain to the eternal joy, 
except as we walk step by step in the path of 
actual duty and performance in which He 
walked, who so gained its fulness, and sat 
down at the right hand of the Father. 



HORATIUS BONAR. 




Theodore S. Munger. 



MAY 28. 



149 



Now no chastening for the present seemeth to 
be joyous, but grievous ; nevertheless afterwai'a 
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness 
unto them which are exercised thereby. — Heb. 
xiL 11. 



Then tremble not and shrink not, 

When Disappointment nears ; 
Be trustful still, and think not 

To realize all fears ; 
While we are meekly kneeling, 

We shall behold her rise — 
Our Father's love revealing- — ■ 

An angel in disguise. 



IFE is God's plan, not ours. For often 



^ on the ruins of visionary hope rises the 
kingdom of our substantial possessions and our 
true peace ; and under the shadow of earthly 
disappointment, all unconsciously to ourselves, 
our divine Redeemer is walking by our side. 



Frances Ridley Havergal. 




Chapin. 



Disappointments are wings that bear the 
soul skyward, 



MAY 29. 



Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of 
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace 
to help in time of need. — - Heb. iv. 16. 

Of what an easy, quick access, 
My blessed Lord, art Thou ! how suddenly 

May our requests Thine ear invade ! 
To show that state dislikes not easiness, 
If I but lift mine eyes my suit is made ; 
Thou canst no more not hear than Thou canst die. 

George Herbert. 



JDRAYER is a key which, being turned by 
the hand of faith, unlocks all God's 
treasures. 

Hannah More. 



MAY 30. 



/ will lay down my life for thy sake. — John 
xiii. 37. 

Many loved Truth, and lavished life's best oil 

Amid the dust of books to find her, 
Content at last, for guerdon of their toil, 
With the cast mantle she hath left behind her, 
Many in sad faith sought for her, 
Many with crossed hands sighed for her ; 
But these, our brothers, fought for her, 
At life's dear peril wrought for her, 
So loved her that they died for her. 

James Russell Lowell, 

^HE seeds of truth sown by great and loyal 
men bear fruit through all the years to 
be. To have lived and labored and died for 
the right, nothing can be sublimer, 



MAY 31. 



The Lord will give strength unto His people ; 
the Lord will bless His people with peace. — Ps. 
xxix. 1 1 . 

Lo ! fainter now lie spread the shades of night, 
And upward shoot the trembling gleams of morn ; 
Suppliant we bend before the Lord of light, 
And pray at early dawn, — 

That His sweet charity may all our sin 
Forgive, and make our miseries to cease ; 
May grant us health, grant us the gift divine 
Of everlasting peace. 



HERE is indeed a peace on earth ; but it is 



1 not the peace of inaction, of prosperity. 
It is the peace of him who accepts the condi- 
tion on which life is given, who girds himself 
for the conflict, who has a clear, strong faith 
that conflict is wisely ordered, and who has 
an earnest in the energy it calls forth of the 
perfection of his soul and the triumph of a 
higher world. 



Breidary (trans, by Edward Caswall). 




William Ellery Channing. 



JUNE 1. 



153 



My little children, let us not love in word, 
neither in tongue ; but in deed and in truth. — 
i John iii. 18. 

Let nothing pass, for every hand 

Must find some work to do ; 
Lose not a chance to waken love, 

Be firm and just and true. 
So shall a light that cannot fade 

Beam on thee from on high, 
And angel voices say to thee, 

These things shall never die. 



HERE are little things that leave us little 



1 regrets. I might have said kind words, 
and perhaps have done kind actions to many 
who now are beyond the reach of them. One 
look on the unfortunate might have given a 
day's happiness; one sigh over the pillow of 
sickness might have insured a night's repose ; 
one whisper might have driven from their vic- 
tim the furies of despair. 



All the Year Round. 




Walter Savage Landor, 



154 



JUNE 2. 



He giveth power to the faint, and to them 
that have no might He increaseth strength. — 
Isa. xL 29. 

It is not. Lord, that I have fearful grown 

To walk the way I must ; 
But oh ! the path is steep that I must tread. 

And often in the dust 

I fall . my feet are bleeding- from the stones, 

And all my tears are vain ; 
Forgive, I pray, dear Lord, and give me strength, — 

Thy strength to rise again. 



HETHER we stumble or whether we fall, 



y Y we must only think of rising again and 
going on in our course. God never makes us 
feel our weakness, but that we may be led to 
seek strength from Him. 




Fenelon. 



It is impossible for that man to despair who 
remembers that his Helper is omnipotent. 

Jeremy Taylor. 



JUNE 3. 



155 



The Lord preserve th the faithful. — Ps. xxxi. 23. 

Master, to do great work for Thee my hand 
Is far too weak ! Thou givest what may suit, — 
Some little chips to cut with care minute, 

Or tint, or grave, or polish. Others stand 

Before their quarried marble fair and grand, 
And make a life-work of the great design 
Which Thou hast traced ; or many, skilled, combine 

To build vast temples, gloriously planned ; 

Yet take the tiny stones which I have wrought, 
Just one by one as they were given by Thee, 

Not knowing what came next in Thy wise thought ; 

Set each stone by Thy master-hand of grace, 
Form the mosaic as Thou wilt for me, 

And in Thy temple pavement give it place. 

Frances Ridley Havergal. 

C IDELITY in trifles, and an earnest seeking 
to please God in little matters, is a test 
of real devotion and love. Let your aim be to 
please our dear Lord perfectly in little things, 
and to attain a spirit of childlike simplicity and 
dependence. 

Jean Nicolas Grou. 



156 



JUNE 4. 



Godliness with contentment is great gain. — 
i Tim. vl 6. 



My crown is in my heart, not on my head ; 
Not decked with diamonds and Indian stones ; 
Not to be seen ; my crown is called Content. 

Shakespeare. 



A CONTENTED mind is always joyful; 

but joy like this is but religion. The 
rich and poor alike, having contentment, enjoy 
perpetual rest. 



Buddha, 



1 am always contented with that which hap- 
pens, for I think that what God chooses is 
better than what I choose, 

Epictetus. 



JUNE 5. 



157 



Continue in prayer. — Col. iv. 2. 

Be not afraid to pray, — to pray is right. 
Pray if thou canst with hope ; but ever pray, 
Though hope be weak, or sick with long delay; 
Pray in the darkness if there be no light. 

Whate'er is good to wish, ask that of Heaven, 
Though it be what thou canst not hope to see ; 
Pray to be perfect, though material leaven 
Forbid the spirit so on earth to be; 
But if for any wish thou darest not pray, 
Then pray to God to cast that wish away. 

Hartley Coleridge. 

pRAYER is ever profitable; at night it is 
our covering-, in the daytime it is our 
armor. Prayer is the key to unlock the day, 
and the bolt to shut in the night. Prayer 
sanctifies all our actions. 



i 5 8 



JUNE 6. 



The exa?nple and shadow of heavenly things. 
Heb. viii. 5. 

From the eternal shadow, rounding 

All our sun and starlight here, 
Voices of our lost ones sounding", 
Bid us be of heart and cheer, — 
Through the silence, down the spaces, falling on the 
inward ear. 

Know we not our dead are looking 

Downward with a sad surprise, 
All our strife of words rebuking 
With their mild and loving eyes ? 
Shall we grieve the holy angels ? Shall we cloud their 
blessed skies ? 

John Greenleaf Whittier. 

IF ever I am tempted to do something which 
is easy and pleasant, instead of something 
hard and disagreeable, which nevertheless I 
ought to do, if I can only think of those lost 
saints of mine, who always expected me to do 
right, and always showed the way, at once my 
will is fortified. No matter if we have our 
living friends, who are a law unto our lives, a 
succor to our wills, the cloud of witnesses can- 
not be too full of eager and expectant souls. 
The influence of our beloved dead comes to us 
purified of all earthly dross and stain, — theirs 
is a flawless, moral inspiration. 

John W. Chadwick. 



JUNE 7. 



159 



Be content. — Luke iii. 14. 

Be thou content ; be still before 
His face, at whose right hand doth reign 

Fulness of joy for evermore, 
Without whom all thy toil is vain. 

He is thy living spring, thy sun. whose rays 

Make glad with life and light thy dreary days. 
Be thou content. 

Paul Gerhardt. 

J DO not think the road to contentment lies 
in despising what we have not got. Let 
us acknowledge all good, all delight that the 
world holds, and be content without it. But 
this we can never do but by possessing the one 
thing, — without which I do not merely say 
we ought to be content, but no one can be 
content, — the Spirit of the Father. 

George Macdonald. 



i6o 



JUNE 8. 



;/rr voice, and I will be your God, and 
ye shall be my people. — Jer. vii. 23. 

Three roots bear up Dominion; Knowledge, Will, — 
These twain are strong, but stronger yet the third, — 
Obedience ; 't is the great tap-root that still, 
Knit round the rock of Duty, is not stirred, 
Though heaven-loosed tempests spend their utmost skill. 



ENACITY of will lies at the root of all 



courage ; but courage can only rise into 
true manliness when the will is surrendered ; 
and the more absolute the surrender of the 
will, the more perfect will be the temper of 
our courage and the strength of our manliness. 
" Strong Son of God," cries the poet, " Im- 
mortal Love, our wills are ours to make them 
Thine ; " and that strong Son of God, to whom 
this cry has gone up in our day, and in all 
days, has left us the secret of His strength in 
the words, " I am come to do the will of my 
Father and your Father." 



James Russell Lowell. 




Thomas Hughes. 



JUNE 9. 



161 



Consider the lilies of the field. — Matt. vi. 28. 

Consider then the lilies, 

0 heart of mine, to-day ; 
They neither toil nor spin to win 

Their beautiful array ; 
I would that thou couldst lead a life 

So fearless, sweet as they 



HERE is a wise meaning and a gracious 



1 design in every tint of the lily's adorn- 
ment and every curve of its grace. Its sym- 
metry is a type and proof of the divine justice. 
Its life is co-ordinated, and keeps time with 
the sublime motions of the heavens ; and its 
structure and uses are full of the profound 
teachings of the unsearchable God. And if 
God thus care for an individual flower which 
to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, 
how much more will He care for an individual 
human being whom He has made in His own 
image, and upon whose life He has made such 
momentous issues to depend. 



Margaret E. Sangster. 




Hugh Macmillan. 



1 1 



1 62 



JUNE 10. 



Thou hast put gladness in my heart, — Ps. iv. 7. 



Chearefulnesse 

Doth expresse 
A settled, pious mynde, 
Which is not prone to grudging, 
From murmuring refined. 



HAT indeed does not that word cheer- 



fulness imply ? It means a contented 
spirit ; it means a pure heart ; it means a kind, 
loving disposition ; it means humility and 
charity ; it means a generous appreciation of 
others, and a modest opinion of self. 



It is a Dutch proverb that "paint costs 
nothing," such are its preserving qualities in 
damp climates. Well, sunshine costs less, yet 
is finer pigment; and so of cheerfulness, the 
more it is spent, the more of it remains. 



Anne Collins. 




William Makepeace Thackeray. 



Ralph Waldo Emerson. 



JUNE 11. 



I know the thoughts that I think toward you, 
saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, 
to give you an expected end. — Jer. xxix. n. 

His perfect plan I may not grasp; 

Yet I can trust Love Infinite, 
And with my feeble fingers clasp 

The Hand which leads me to the light. 
My soul upon His errand goes ; 
The end I know not, but God knows. 

P VERY human soul has a complete and per- 
feet plan cherished for it in the heart of 
God, — a divine biography marked out which 
it enters into life to live. This life, rightly un- 
folded, will be a complete and beautiful whole, 
an experience led on by God and unfolded by 
His secret nurture, as the trees and the flowers 
by the secret nurture of the world. We live 
in the divine thought. We fill a place in the 
great, everlasting plan of God's intelligence. 
We never sink below His care, never drop out 
of His counsel. 

Horace Bushnell. 



1 64 



JUNE 12. 



And the Lord shall guide thee continually, — 
Isa. Iviii. ii. 

Up. up ! the day is breaking, 

Say to thy cares good-night; 
Thy troubles from thee shaking, 

Like dreams in day's fresh light. 

He who for winds and clouds 

Maketh a pathway free, 
Through wastes or hostile crowds 

Can make a way for thee. 

Paul Ger.hapdt. 



RDUOUS is the conflict, but abundant the 



strength ; hard the toil, but glorious the 
reward. Oh, forsake not me Thy child when 
walking through the great tumultuous crowds 
who know not Thy name ! Wide is the sea 
through which I have to steer my course, and 
high its swelling waves ; but grace is the 
breeze that fills the sails, my compass is faith, 
and my pilot Christ. tholuck. 




JUNE 13. 



165 



For none of us liveth to himself. — Rom. xiv. 7. 



NOR knowest thou what argument 

Thy life to thy neighbor's creed has lent. 



HERE is no sort of wrong deed of which a 



man can bear the punishment alone ; you 
can't isolate yourself, and say that the evil 
which is in you shall not spread. Men's lives 
are as thoroughly blended with each other as 
the air they breathe ; evil spreads as necessa- 
rily as disease. Every sin causes suffering to 
others besides those who commit it. 



Ralph Waldo Emerson. 




George Eliot. 



JUNE 14. 



Let Him do to me as seemeth good unto 
Him, — 2 Sam. xv. 26. 

God never would send you the darkness, 
If He felt you could bear the light ; 

But you would not cling to His guiding- hand, 
If the way were always bright, 

And you would not care to walk by faith, 
Could you always walk by sight. 

So He sends you the blinding darkness 
And the furnace of sevenfold heat ; 

'T is the only way, believe me, 
To keep you close to His feet ; 

For 't is always so easy to wander, 
When our lives are glad and sweet. 

THERE is a bird, it is said, that will never 
learn the song his master will have him 
sing while his cage is full of light. He listens 
and learns a snatch of this, a trill of that, a 
polyglot of all the songs in the grove, but 
never a separate and entire melody of his own. 
But the master covers the cage, makes the way 
all dark about him, then he will listen to the 
one song he has to sing, and try and try again 
until at the last his heart is full of it; then 
when he has caught the melody, the cage is 
uncovered. Robert Collyer. 



JUNE 15. 



Walk worthy of God, who hath called you 
unto His kingdom and glory,- — i Thess. ii. 12. 

Let me not deem that I was made in vain, 
Or that my being was an accident 
Which Fate, in working its sublime intent, 
Not wished to be, to hinder would not deign. 
Each drop uncounted in a storm of rain 
Hath its own mission, and is duly sent 
To its own leaf or blade. 

Hartley Coleridge. 



C VEN from a corner it is possible to spring 
up into heaven. Rise, therefore, and 
form thyself into a fashion worthy of God; 
thou canst not do this, however, with gold 
and silver. An image like to God cannot be 
formed out of such materials as these. 

Seneca. 



i68 



JUNE 16. 



While I live will I praise the Lord : I will 
sing praises unto my God while I have any 
being, — Ps. cxlvi. 2. 

Ah, no ! the truest worship does not lie 
In fast and vigil ; spending dismal days 

Only to lift the tribute of a sigh, 
Gives God no glory. Come with gladsome lays, 

All ye who truly love the Lord most high, 
For perfect prayer is found in perfect praise. 

T F, then, I were a nightingale, I would do the 
part of a nightingale. If I were a swan, 
I would do like a swan. But now I am a ra- 
tional creature, and I ought to praise God ; this 
is my work. I do it ; nor will I desert this 
post so long as I am allowed to keep it, and I 
exhort you to join in this same song. 

Epictetus. 



JUNE 17. 



169 



By works a man is justified, and not by faith 
only. — James ii. 24. 

No answer comes to those that pray 

And idly stand, 
And wait for stones to roll away 

At God's command; 
He will not break the binding cords 

Upon us laid, 
If we depend on pleading words, 

And will not aid. 

'"THE great human duties are prayer and 



work, — prayer for every needed bless- 
ing, and work to realize it, — ■ prayer, as though 
God must do the whole, and work, as though 
we must do it all ourselves. These are the two 
poles of the great galvanic battery. 




RO SWELL DWIGHT HITCHCOCK. 



JUNE 18. 



He faileth not. — Zeph. iii. 5. 

He who hath led will lead 

All through the wilderness; 
He who hath fed will feed; 

He who hath blessed will bless; 
He who hath heard thy cry 

Will ne\ er close His ear ; 
He who hath marked thy faintest sigh 

Will not forget thy tear. 
He loveth always, faileth never. 
So rest on Him to-day. forever. 

Frances Ridley Havergal. 

TT AST thou ever found that God hath dealt 
* * unfaithfully with thee ? or didst thou 
ever hear that He hath dealt unfaithfully with 
any other ? There is no want of power in Him 
that he should not be as big as His word ; there 
is no want of love in Him that He should not 
be as good as His word. We are fleeting and 
mutable., off and on ; to-day not the same as 
yesterday; and to-morrow, perhaps, like nei- 
ther of the days ; yet He continueth yesterday, 
to-day, and the same forevermore. 

Bishop Sanderson. 



JUNE 19. 



171 



Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry ; for an- 
ger resteth in the bosom of fools. — Eccl. vii. 9. 

As through an ill-thatched roof 

The pelting rains descend, 
So an unthinking mind 

The stormy passions rend ; 
As well-thatched roofs defy the rain, 
So passions crash and dash against 
The thoughtful mind in vain. 



IKE those who burn their houses and them- 



selves within them, anger makes all things 
within full of confusion, smoke, and noise ; so 
that the soul can neither see nor hear anything 
that might relieve it. Wherefore, sooner will 
an empty ship in a storm at sea admit of a 
governor from without, than a man, tossed 
with anger and rage, listen to the advice of 
another, unless he have his own reason first 
prepared to entertain it. 



The Dbammapada. 




Plutarch. 



172 



JUNE 20. 



For God hath not given us the spirit of fear ; 
but of power, and of love, and of a sound 
mind. — 2 Tim. i. 7. 

Lord and Father, great and holy ! 

Fearing- naught we come to Thee ; 
Fearing naught, though weak and lowly, 

For Thy love has made us free. 
By the blue sky bending o'er us, 

By the green earth's flowery zone, 
Teach us, Lord, the angel chorus, 

Thou art Love and Love alone. 

Frederic W. Farrar. 

CEAR may create the enforced obedience of 
the slave, love only can win the devo- 
tion of the child ; and that is why God hath 
not sent to us — who know the truth, and 
whom the truth has made free — the spirit of 
fear and bondage, but of love, and of power, 
and of a sound mind. And this love is the 
sole basis of holiness. 

Ibid. 



JUNE 21. 



173 



He which soweth sparingly shall reap also 
sparingly ; a?id he which soweth bountifully 
shall reap also bountifully. — 2 Cor. ix. 6. 

All life is seed dropped in Time's yawning furrow, 

Which with slow sprout and shoot, 
In the revolving world's unfathomed morrow 

Will blossom and bear fruit. 



HEN I sow my good treasure broadcast 



as Christ did, when I give myself with 
what I am giving, — then, as the earth never 
fails of her harvest, but in the old world or 
the new will surely bring us our daily bread, 
so the soul can never fail of her divine returns. 
Here or yonder, in the full time comes the 
full blessing ; the flower flashing out glory, the 
fields laughing with plenty. 



Mathilde Blind. 




Robert Collyer. 



174 



JUNE 22. 



Have faith in God. — Mark xi. 22, 



Fain would I hold my lamp aloft, 
Like yonder tower built high upon the reef ; 

Steadfast though tempests rave or winds blow soft, 
Clear though the sky dissolve in tears of grief. 

For darkness passes, storms shall not abide; 

A little patience, and the fog is past ; 
After the sorrow of the ebbing tide, 

The surging flood returns in joy at last. 

The night is long, and pain weighs heavily ; 

But God will hold His world above despair j 
Look to the east, where up the lucid sky 

The morning climbs ! The day shall yet be fair. 

Celia Thaxter. 



A1TH rests on every promise of God, how- 



1 ever imparted, — directly or by the soul. 
Is not the soul a promise ? ... He who has 
kindled in my heart an affectionate earnestness 
has, in so doing", given a pledge of what He 
will accomplish. Never despair under God ! 




William Ellery Channing, 



JUNE 23. 



175 



Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. — 
Prov. xvi. 20. 

All as God wills, who wisely heeds 

To give or to withhold, 
And knoweth more of all my needs, 

Than all my prayers have told. 



It 'S good to live only a moment at a 
time; ... it isn't for you and me to lay 
plans ; we 've nothing to do but to obey and 
trust. 



John Greenleaf Whittier. 




E are in God's hands. Brother. 



Shakespeare. 



George Eliot. 



176 



JUNE 24. 



Neither is it in our power to redeem them. — ■ 
Xeh. v. 5. 

But yesterday, but yesterday 
She stood beside our dusty way 
Out-reaching, for a moment's space, 
The key to fortune's hiding-place; 

With wistful meanings in her eyes, 
Her radiance veiled in dull disguise, 
A moment paused, then turned and fled, 
Bearing her message still unsaid. 

So fast, so far she sped and flew 
Into the depths of ether blue ; 
And we, too late, make bitter cry, 
" Come back, dear Opportunity." 

Susan Coolidge, 

T^HERE are four things that come not back, 
— the spoken word, the sped arrow, the 
past life, and the neglected opportunity. 

Arabian. 



JUNE 25. 



177 



And where is the place of my rest? — Isa. 
lxvi 1. 

Give me the rest that springs from love 

Abiding, pure and deep ; 
The love that trusts so perfectly, 

That it can fall asleep 
Beneath the shadows of Thy throne, 

Or where the tempests sweep. 

A BOVE all and in all do thou, my soul, rest 
1 in the Lord always, for He Himself is 
the eternal rest of His saints. 

Thomas a Kempis. 

With Thee is perfect rest and life unchang- 
ing. He who enters into Thee enters into the 
joy of his Lord, and shall have no fear. 

Saint Augustine. 



1 7 8 



JUNE 26. 



The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. — Rom. vi. 23. 

When Heaven grows dim and faith seeks to renew 

The image of its everlasting dower, 
I know no argument so sweet as through 

The bosom of a flower. 

A wicket-gate to Heaven (of which death 
Is the grand portal, sealed to mortal eyes), 

Between whose little bars there comes the breath 
Of airs from Paradise. 



'"TO the thoughtful mind the lily-blossom is 
A a wicket in the great, unseen portal of 
death, through which we may obtain bright 
glimpses of what is beyond. It opens in all 
its snowy purity and exquisite grace from the 
dry, withered sheaf, as the transfigured im- 
mortal life bursts from the temporary impris- 
onment of death. And if the death of the 
plant should thus blossom into undreamt-of 
beauty, what infinite possibilities better than 
our brightest hopes are held by that darkness 
which bounds our vision here ! He who raises 
up the lilies every summer, each from its own 
root in the mould, will not leave our life in 
the dust. Hugh Macmillan. 



JUNE 27. 



179 



Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, 
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? — 
1 Cor. iii. 16. 



Where'er the gentle heart 
Finds courage from above ; 

Where'er the heart forsook 
Warms with the breath of love ; 

Where faith bids fear depart, 

City of God ! Thou art. 

Where in life's common ways 
With cheerful feet we go, 

When in His steps we tread, 
Who trod the way of woe ; 

Where He is in the heart, 

City of God ! Thou art. 



Francis Turner Palgrave. 



SACRED spirit dwells within us, the ob- 
server and guardian of all our evil and 
good. There is no good man without God. 

Seneca. 




i8o 



JUNE 28. 



Into Thine hand I commit my spirit — Ps. 
xxxi. 5. 

Father, Thy hand the wild bird brings 
With fearless flight, from shore to shore, 

Safe in that sheltering peace it sings, 
Howe'er the tempests roar. 

So tossed, so frail, so lone am I, 
Except that hand my guidance be, 

Hear Thou my fearful, hopeful cry, 
Dear Lord, lay hold of me. 

Rose Terry Cooke. 



LING fast to the hand that is leading you, 



though it be in darkness, though it be 
in deep waters, — you know whom you have 
believed. Yield not for a single moment to 
misgivings about future storms. Infinite Love, 
joined to infinite skill, shall pilot the way 
through every strait and temptation. 




J. Alexander. 



JUNE 29. 



181 



Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 
reap. — Gal. vi. 7. 

God will not seek thy race, 

Nor will He ask thy birth; 
Alone He will demand of thee, 

What hast thou done on earth ? 

Tersian. 

And they who sowed the light, shall reap 
The golden sheaves of morning. 



HE present life is the seed-plot of the future 



state, and the harvest which we reap in 
eternity is the same in character and quality as 
that which now we sow, Every thought we 
think, every word we speak, every action we 
perform, every opportunity of service neglected 
or improved, is a seed sown by us, the fruit of 
which shall multiply either untold miseries or 
myriad blessings in the eternity into which 



James Russell Lowell. 




we go, 



William M. Taylor. 



182 



JUNE 30. 



Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, 
even they shall tmderstand the loving-kindness of 
the Lord. — Ps. cvii. 43. 

So, then, believe that every bird that sings, 
And every flower that stars the elastic sod, 

And every thought the happy summer brings, 
To the pure spirit is a word of God. 

Hartley Coleridge. 

TESUS illustrated His teachings by these ob- 
jects. He made everything that was at 
hand perform a mission for the human soul. 
The lilies of the field were clothed with spirit- 
ual suggestion, and the fowls of the air, as they 
flew through the trackless firmament, bore a 
lesson of truth and consolation. And as if to 
show that there is nothing, however small, that 
is insignificant, and that has not its mission, He 
selected the falling sparrow to be a minister of 
wisdom. 

E. H. Chapin. 



JULY 1. 



183 



Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least 
of these, ye did it not to me. — Matt. xxv. 45 . 



Living, thou dost not live 
If mercy's spring- run dry, 
What Heaven has lent thee wilt thou freely give, 
Dying, thou shalt not die. 

He promised even so; 
To thee His lips repeat, 
Behold, the tears that soothed thy sister's woe 
Have washed thy Master's feet ! 

Oliver Wendell Holmes. 



HE final test of religion at that last day is 



1 not religiousness, but love; not what I 
have done, not what I have believed, but how 
I have discharged the common charities of life. 
By what we have not done — by sins of omis- 
sion — we are judged. It could not be oth- 
erwise. For the withholding of love is the 
negation of the spirit of Christ, the proof that 
we never knew Him, that for us He lived in 
vain. 




Henry Drummond 



1 84 



JULY 2. 



The will of the Lord be done. — Acts xxi. 14. 



What is the true and perfect will of God, 
That we may help to do it ; not as tools, 
That know not what they fashion, but as hands, 
Whose heart is in their work; and whatsoe'er 
It be, — this, above all, more faith to cry 
In darkness or in light, "Thy will be done." 

OVE is higher than duty, and the reason is 



that love in reality contains duty in itself. 
Love is duty and something more. " Love is 
a beautiful plant with a beautiful flower, of 
which duty is the stalk." All acceptable obe- 
dience flows from love ; all true love produces 
cheerful service. We do not really love God 
if we do not seek to obey Him. 



Light ! more light to see 




Rose Porter. 



JULY 3. 



185 



One that prayed to God alway. — Acts x. 2 . 



A Father's loving eye o'erlooketh all; 

Nay, more, — He all upholds, however small, 

Unknown to Him a sparrow cannot fall. 



H ! never forget that Heaven reaches down 



close — quite close — to earth, so that 
whoever raises his head in a right manner is 
sure to find himself in Heaven with our gra- 
cious God and all His holy angels, even though 
our blind eyes cannot perceive them. 



Look up ! look up ! 



Look up ! look up ! 



Anna Maria Sargeant. 




Looking up is our strength. 

William Ellery Channing. 



186 



JULY 4. 



O turn itnto rne. t and have mercy upon me ; 
give Thy strength unto Thy servant. — Ps. 
lxxxvi. 1 6. 

I come to Thee, 0 Lord, for strength and patience 

To do Thy will ; 
Help me, 0 Father, in this world of duty 

My place to fill. 

J T is so difficult to bear with patience and 
allowances the faults of others. It is very 
mistaken to think that the great occasions of 
life only demand religious feelings and prin- 
ciples ; it is in the every-day petty annoyances, 
the constant call upon our charity, forbearance, 
and meekness, that we feel the constant want 
of some stronger and more powerful stimulant 
than the feeling of the moment to smooth down 
the rubs of life, and make our existence one of 
peace and happiness. 

Maria Hare. 



JULY 5. 



187 



Let all those that put their trust in Thee 
rejoice : . . . let them also that love Thy name 
be joyful in Thee, — Ps. v. 11. 

I know He is, and what He is, 
Whose one great purpose is the good 

Of all ; I rest my soul on His 
Immortal love and Fatherhood, 
And trust Him as His children should. 

John Greenleaf Whittier. 

TO know God; to love Him altogether; to 
live in the light of His countenance ; to 
be satisfied with a little in some directions, 
because in others we have so much ; to receive 
all things hopefully, because they are from 
Him ; to take the peace of resting in His good- 
ness; to desire all the day long, " Oh that my 
heart were as Thy heart, and that wholly ! " — 
these are open to us, 

John Hamilton Thorn. 



i88 



JULY 6. 



But ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing. — 
2 Thess. iii. 13. 



Life is net living 

Just for to-day ; 
Life is not dreaming" 

All the short way, 

'T is living- for others, 
To lighten their load; 

'T is helping your brothers, 
And trusting in God, 



IFE is made up, not of great sacrifices or 



duties, but of little things, in which 
smiles and kindnesses and small obligations 
given habitually win and preserve the heart 
and secure comfort. 



Sir Humphrey Davy. 



Hoadley. 




JULY 7. 



Now, therefore, keep thy sorrow to thyself, and 
bear with a good courage that which hath be- 
fallen thee. — 2 Esdras x. 1 5 . 

The patient heart, 

That bears its heavy cross apart, 

And still makes known 

Its burden unto Christ alone, — 

To this one His sweet spirit brings 

Most dear and gracious comfortings. 

Mary Bradley. 

TT is not in vain that you are called to pass 
f through great trials and sufferings. They 
never leave you what they found you; God 
forbid they should ! But how you bear them, 
what they lead you to do and to feel will vary 
according to your own attitude to them. Their 
trend and purpose are towards those two poles 
of duty, — God and humanity ; but it is our 
weakness and fault that often we do not read 
aright their meaning. Suffering may leave us 
hard, selfish, and complaining, or it may lead 
us into the mysteries of Providence, and into 
the very fellowship of God. 

Theodore T. Munger. 



190 



JULY 8. 



God is not the author of confusion, but of 
peace. — i Cor. xiv. 33. 

Light strains of music, soft and low, 
That break upon a troubled sleep ; 

I hear the promise, old and new, 
" God will His faithful children keep 
In perfect peace." 

It stills the questionings and doubts, 
The nameless fears that throng the soul; 

It speaks of love unchanging, sure; 
And evermore its echoes roll 
" In perfect peace." 



RUE peace is found only in the possession 



1 of God ; and the possession of God here 
on earth consists only in submission to faith 
and obedience to law. Resign every forbidden 
joy ; restrain every wish that is not referred to 
this will ; banish all eager desires, all anxiety ; 
desire only the will of God ; seek Him alone, 
— and you will find peace ; you shall enjoy it 
in spite of the world. 




Fenelon. 



JULY 9. 



191 



His compassions fail not ; they are new every 
morning. — Lam. iii. 22, 23. 

New every morning is the love 
Our waking and uprising prove ; 
Through sleep and darkness safely brought, 
Restored to life and power and thought. 

New mercies each returning day 

Hover around us while we pray; 

New perils past, new sins forgiven, 

New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven. 

John Keble. 

jgACH day, each week, each month, each 
year, is a new chance given you by God. 
A new chance, a new leaf, a new life, — this is 
the golden, the unspeakable gift which each 
new day offers to you. 

Frederic W. Farrar. 



192 



JULY 10. 



And now men see not the bright light which is 
in the clouds ; but the wind passeth, and cleanseth 
them. — Job xxxvii. 2 1 . 



His purposes will ripen fast, 
Unfolding- every hour ; 

The bud may have a bitter taste, 
But sweet will be the flower. 

Blind unbelief is sure to err, 
And scan His work in vain ; 

God is His own interpreter, 
And He will make it plain. 



HERE is nothing in what has befallen or 



1 befalls you which justifies impatience or 
peevishness. God is inscrutable, but not wrong. 
Remember if the cloud is over you that there 
is a bright light always on the other side ; also, 
that the time is coming, either in this world or 
the next, when that cloud will be swept away, 
and the fulness of God's light and wisdom 
poured around you. If your life is dark, then 
walk by faith ; and God is pledged to keep you 
as safe as if you could understand everything. 



William Cowper. 




Horace Bushnell. 



JULY 11. 



193 



But I would not have you to be ignorant \ breth- 
ren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sor- 
row ?iot, even as others which have no hope. — 
1 Thess. iv. 13. 

Somewhere is comfort, somewhere faith, 

Though thou in outer dark remain j 
One sweet, sad voice ennobles death, 
And still for eighteen centuries saith 



HOSE who are gone you have. Those 



who departed loving you love you still ; 
and you love them always. They are not 
really gone, — those dear hearts and true, — 
they are only gone into the next room ; and 
you will presently get up and follow them, and 
yonder door will be closed upon you, and you 
will be no more seen. 



Softly, " Ye meet again." 



James Russell Lowell. 




William Makepeace Thackeray. 
r 3 



194 



JULY 12. 



Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou 
shalt find it after many days. — Eccl. xi. i . 

Oh, if the selfish knew how much they lost ! 
What would they not endeavor, not endure, 
To imitate, as far as in them lay, 
Him who his wisdom and his powers employ 
In making others happy ? 



^HE most delicate and the most sensible of 
all pleasures consists in promoting the 
pleasures of others. 



William Cowper. 




La Bruyere. 



Happiness is not perfected until it is shared. 

Jane Porter. 



JULY 13. 



195 



Many shall be pitrified, and made white, and 
tried, — Dan. xii. 10. 

A Water-Lily, 

O Star on the breast of the river 

0 marvel of bloom and grace ! 

Did you fall straight down from heaven, 

Out of the sweetest place ? 
You are white as the thoughts of an angel, 

Your heart is steeped in the sun ; 
Did you grow in the golden city, 

My pure and radiant one ? 

Nay, nay, I fell not out of heaven, 

None gave me my saintly white, 
It slowly grew from the blackness, 

Far down in the dreary night ; 
From the ooze of the silent river 

1 won my glory and grace ; 
White souls fall not, 0 my poet, 

They rise to the sweetest place. 

Mary Frances Butts. 

IF we could only think of the pain and the 
suffering, the unpleasant surroundings, and 
all the things that make living so hard, as the 
bed out of which the lily hearts may come, 
and, with our hidden hearts golden and glow- 
ing, just climb up slowly through the deep 
waters, until the soul shall open out all white 
and lovely under the full sunlight of God, 
would it not pay for all we have to bear ? 

Mary Lowe Dickenson. 



196 



JULY 14. 



Be stilly and know that I am God, — ■ Ps. 
xlvi. 10. 

Fret not, poor soul, while doubt and fear 

Disturb thy breast ; 
The pitying angels, who can see 
How vain thy wild regret must be, 

Say, Trust and rest. 

Strive not, nor struggle; thy poor might 

Can never wrest 
The meanest thing to serve thy will, — 
All power is His alone : be still, 

And trust, and rest. 

Adelaide Anne Procter. 

pvO you know what Luther said ? " Suffer 
^ and be still, and tell no man thy sorrow ; 
trust in God, — His help will not fail thee." 
This is what Scripture calls keeping silence 
before God. To talk much of one's sorrows 
makes one weak ; but to tell one's sorrows to 
Him who heareth in secret, makes one strong 
and calm. 

Tholuck. 



JULY 15. 



197 



Blessed be the Lord y who daily loadeth its, with 
benefits, even the God of our salvation. — Ps. 
lxviii. 19. 

When all Thy mercies, 0 my God, 

My rising soul surveys, 
Transported with the view, I 'm lost 

In wonder, love, and praise. 

Ten thousand thousand precious gifts 

My daily thanks employ ; 
Nor is the least a cheerful heart, 

That tastes those gifts with joy. 

Joseph Addison. 

TF gratitude is due from man to man, how 
* much more from man to his Maker ? The 
Supreme Being does not only confer upon us 
those bounties which proceed more immedi- 
ately from His hand, but even those benefits 
which are conveyed to us by others. Every 
blessing we enjoy, by what means soever it 
may be derived upon us, is the gift of Him 
who is the great Author of good and Father 
of mercies. 

Ibid. 



198 



JULY 16. 



Fear not, believe only. — Luke viii. 50. 

The childlike faith that asks not sight, 

Waits not for wonder or for sign, 
Believes, because it loves aright, 

Shall see things greater, things divine. 
Heaven to that gaze shall open wide, 

And brightest angels to and fro 
On messages of love shall glide 

Twixt God and Christ below. 



HE blessed thing which the Bible calls faith 



is a state of the soul in which the things 
of God become glorious certainties. It mat- 
ters not how it comes, whether as to Thomas 
through sight, or whether through the evi- 
dence of the Spirit ; and yet the faith of which 
Christ said, " Blessed are they which have not 
seen and yet have believed," was a spiritual 
faith. 



John Keble. 




Frederick William Robertson. 



JULY 17. 



199 



Fight the good fight of faith ; lay hold on eter- 
nal life, w hereunto thou art also called. — 1 Tim. 
vi. 12. 

Great duties are before me and great songs ; 
And whether crowned or crownless when I fall 
It matters not, so as God's work is done. 



HE true hero is the great wise man of 



duty ; he whose soul is armed by truth, 
and supported by the smile of God ; he who 
meets life's perils with a cautious but tranquil 
spirit, gathers strength by facing its storms, 
and dies, if he is called to die, as a Christian 
victor at the post of duty. 



Alexander Smith. 




Horace Bushnell. 



200 



JULY 18. 



Give, and it shall be given unto you ; good 
measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and 
running over, shall men give into your bosom. — 
Luke vi. 38. 

Dig channels for the stream of love, 

Where they may broadly run ; 
And love has overflowing streams 

To fill them every one. 

For we must share if we would keep 

That good thing from above ; 
Ceasing to give we cease to have, 

Such is the law of love. 

Richard Chenevix Trench. 

T T is only the most pitiable of heart poverty 
* that feels as if it could do nothing to add 
to the happiness of other lives, and does not 
even make the attempt. And where no love is 
given, the life shrivels and narrows until none 
can be received. The soul itself is refreshed 
and enlarged by the stream of love that flows 
through it ; this is the true well of water 
springing up within unto everlasting life. 

Lucy Larcom. 



JULY 19. 



201 



If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted 
according to that a man hath, and not according 
to that he hath not. — 2 Cor. viii. 12. 

He bade us do the thing we could, — no more. 

Be heedful of our outward ways and deeds, 
Watch well our feet, — that so He might outpour 

His Spirit for our spirit's inmost needs. 

Emily Pfeiffer. 

J N Thy book, O Lord, are written all those 
that do what they can, though they cannot 
do what they would. 

Saint Augustine. 

Our duty is to be useful, not according to 
our desires, but according to our powers. 

Henri Frederic Amiel. 



202 



JULY 20. 



Behold, we count them happy which endure. — 
James v. ii. 

Well, to suffer is divine ; 

Pass the watchword down the line, 

Pass the countersign, " Endure ! " 
Not to him who rashly dares, 
But to him who nobly bears, 

Is the victor's garland sure. 

John Greenleaf Whittier. 

TF for some of us, and sometimes for all of 
us, action cannot mean doing, then re- 
member bearing too is action, — oftenest its 
hardest part. 

William Channing Gannett. 

Endure and dare, true heart; through pa- 
tience, joined with boldness, come we at a 
crown encircled with a thousand blessings. 

Spanish Proverb. 



JULY 21. 



203 



Let us do good unto all men. — Gal. vi. 1 o. 

The chief use, then, in man of that he knows, 
Is his painstaking- for the good of all ; 

Not fleshly weeping for our own-made woes, 
Nor laughing from a melancholy gall ; 

Not hating from a soul that overflows 
With bitterness breathed out from inward thrall; 

But sweetly, rather, to ease, to loose, or bind, 

As need requires, this fraU, falPn human kind. 

FULKE GREVILLE. 

pOWER to do good is the true and lawful 
end of aspiring. For good thoughts, 
though God accept them, yet toward men 
they are little better than good dreams, except 
they be put in act, and that cannot be without 
power and place as the vantage ground. 

Lord Bacon 



204 



JULY 22. 



Vouchsafe, 0 Lord, to keep us this day with- 
out sin. — Te Deum. 

Dear Lord, Thou bringest back the morn ; 

Thy children wake ; . Thy children pray : 
Oh ! make our souls divinely yearn, 

Pcur Thy best beauty on the day. 

Lend our slow feet that speed of Thine; 

Our busy hands from evil stay ; 
Lord, help us still to tasks divine, 

Still keep us in the heavenly way. 

The weaklings plead; the sinners pray; 

But, Lord, Thy grace exceeds our sin ; 
We cannot ask too bright a day ; 

Too much of Thee we cannot win. 

Thomas Hornblower Gill. 

T ET it be our happiness this day to add to 



the happiness of those around us, to 
comfort some sorrow, to relieve some want, 
to add some strength to our neighbor's 
virtue. 




William Ellery Channing. 



JULY 23. 



205 



Though He be not far from every one of us. — 
Acts xvii. 2 7. 

Then my heart said, " Give o'er, 

Question no more, no more; 
The wind, the storm, the wild hermit-flower, 

The illuminated air, 

The pleasure after prayer, 
Proclaim the unoriginated Power ; 
The mystery that hides Him here and there 
Bears the sure witness He is everywhere." 

Alice Cary. 

JF you wish to behold God, you may see 
Him in every object around ; search in 
your breast, and you will find Him there. 
And if you do not yet perceive where He 
dwells, confute me if you can, and say where 
He is not. 

Metastasio. 



206 



JULY 24. 



Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God. — Matt. v. 8. 

The pure in heart God's face shall see; 

And does not this 
Include the whole ecstatic scale 

Of promised bliss ? 
Can souls which His dear presence gain, 

More joy attain ? 

^ERTAINLY as the open eye drinks in the 
light, do the pure in heart see God. And 
he that lives truly, feels Him as a presence not 
to be put by, 

Theodore Parker. 

The .pure in heart see God in everything, 
and see Him everywhere ; and they are su- 
premely blessed. 

John G. Holland. 



JULY 25. 



207 



/ will not leave you comfortless ; I will come 
to you. — John xiv. 18. 

But He whose human feet have trod 

All paths of trial, He who knew 
No sympathy but that of God, 

Though linked with flesh that craved it too, 
Yearns with us in our needs, our dreads ; 

And mindful of our feeble frame, 
Holds to His heart our throbbing heads, 

With love that hath no mortal name. 



E can never know a sorrow into which the 



Son of man cannot enter ; and we can 
never understand the depth and preciousness of 
His sympathy till we come to need it. ... I 
have had a very deep wound, the trial has 
been very severe ; but how should I have 
known Christ as a brother born for adversity 
without it ? 



Margaret J. Preston, 




Lady Powerscourt : Letters. 



208 



JULY 26. 



If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and 
satisfy the afflicted soul ; then shall thy light rise 
in obscurity, a?id thy darkness be as the noonday ; 
and the Lord shall guide thee continually. — Is a. 
lviii. 10, ii. 

Seldom can the heart be lonely, 

If it seek a lonelier still ; 
Self-forgetting, seeking only 

Emptier cups of love to fill. 

Frances Ridley Havergal. 

TN shutting none out of our sympathy, in 
the willingness to help all and to be 
helped by all, we are here beginning like chil- 
dren to climb the foot-hills that lead to immor- 
tality. The self-absorbed, the unsympathetic, 
the unloving have lost their way, and are on 
the downward path ; no light from the eternal 
life is reflected from their faces. 

Lucy Larcom. 



JULY 27. 



209 



Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love ; 
therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn 
thee. — Jer. xxxi. 3. 

O soul, rejoice ! 
Thou art God's child indeed, for all thy sinning ; 
A poor weak child, yet His, and worth the winning 
With Saviour eyes and voice. 

George Macdonald. 
JUST as a mother would not love a child 



the better for its being turned into a 
model of perfection by one stroke of magic, 
but does love it the more deeply every time it 
tries to be good ; so I do hope and believe our 
great Father does not wait for us to be good 
and wise to love us, but loves us, and loves to 
help us in the very thick of our struggle with 
folly and sin. 




Juliana Horatia Ewing, 



2IO 



JULY 28. 



My times are in Thy hand, — Ps. xxxi. 15. 

I need not care 
If days to come be dark or fair, 

If the sweet summer brings delight, 
Or bitter winter chills the air. 

How this is planned, 
Or that, I may not understand ; 

I am content, my God, to know 
That all my times are in Thy hand. 

Mary Bradley. 

jpvO your best loyally and cheerfully, and 
suffer yourself to feel no anxiety or fear. 
Your times are in God's hands. He has as- 
signed you your place; He will direct your 
paths ; He will accept your efforts if they be 
faithful ; He will bless your aims if they be 
for your soul's good. 

Frederic W. Farrar. 



JULY 29. 



211 



Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing 
it is for the eyes to behold the sun. — Eccl. xi. 7. 

Serene will be our days and bright, 

And happy will our natures be, 
When love is an unerring light. 

William Wordsworth. 

Love is sunshine. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

OD wishes us to have the light of love in 



our homes. He would have in them a 
tender play of laughter and humor, a pleasant 
interchange of light and color and warmth, in 
word and mirth, which makes the brightness 
perfect, and is as much the work of the sun- 
shine in the house as the delightful gayety of 
nature is the doing of the sun. 




Stopford A. Brooke. 



212 



JULY 30. 



I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. — 
Ps. lii. 8. 

For us, whatever ? s undergone, 
Thou knowest, wiliest what is done ; 
Grief may be joy misunderstood, — 
Only the good discern the good ; 
I trust Thee while my days go on. 

I praise Thee while my days go on ; 

I love Thee while my days go on ; 

Through dark and dearth, through fire and frost, 

With emptied arms and treasure lost, 

I thank Thee while my days go on. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 

JT is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth 
good. Our part is to pray that we may 
bear patiently whatever trials may be allotted 
us, firmly trusting in His word that all things 
shall work together for good to them that love 
Him. 

Hannah More. 



JULY 31. 



2i3 



With Thee is the fountain of life. — Ps. xxxvi. 9. 

Thou, Lord, alone art all Thy children need, 

And there is none beside ; 
From Thee the streams of blessedness proceed, 

In Thee the blest abide; 
Fountain of life and all-abounding grace, 
Our source, our centre, and our dwelling-place ! 



T the bottom of every man there is an 



abyss which hope, joy, ambition, hate, 
love, the sweetness of thinking 1 , the pleasure 
of writing, the pride of conquest cannot fill. 
The whole world would not satisfy it; but, 
O my God ! a drop, one single drop of Thy 
grace causes it to overflow. 



Madame Guyon. 




Joseph Roux. 



214 



AUGUST 1. 



Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary ? — 
Mark vi. 3. 

A lesson, Lord, those eighteen years to me; 
Not elsewhere I could so devoutly learn 
That humble tasks are best, howe'er I yearn 
For higher spheres where I may work more free. 
Blest were those patient, toiling years to Thee, 
Their secret kept within Thy lonely heart, 
While Thou wast trained by daily skill of art 
To build new worlds for human destiny, 
Thy future was the Now. 'T was from its height 
Thine eye read meanings in the passing day ; 
If Cross of Death cast shadows on Thy way, 
What sun was that so darkened in his light ? 
0 Nazarene, out of these toils there came, 
That which we prize most dear, — a Brother's Name ! 

A. A. Lipscomb. 

CHRIST did not want higher occasions than 
the Father gave him. The grand maxim 
of His mission was that the humblest spheres 
give the greatest weight and dignity to princi- 
ples. He was the good carpenter, — saving 
the world. Rightly viewed, there are no small 
occasions in this world, as in our haste we too 
often think. Great principles, principles sacred 
even to God, are at stake in every moment of 
life. God prescribes our duty; and it were 
wrong not to believe that if we undertake 
God's real work, He will furnish us to it, and 
give us pleasure in it. Horace Bushnell. 



AUGUST 2. 



215 



If thine enemy hunger* feed him; if he thirst, 
give him drink ; for in so doing thou shalt heap 
coals of fire on his head. — Rom. xii. 20. 

But if for wrongs we needs revenge must have, 
Then be our vengeance of the noblest kind ; 

Do we his body from our fury save, 

And let our hate prevail against our mind ? 

What can 'gainst him a greater vengeance be 

Than make his foe more worthy far than he ? 

Lady Elizabeth Carew. 

JF thou must needs have revenge of thine 
enemy, with a soft tongue break his bones, 
heap coals of fire on his head, forgive him, and 
enjoy it. To forgive our enemies is a charm- 
ing way of revenge and a short Cesarean con- 
quest, overcoming without a blow ; laying our 
enemies at our feet under sorrow, shame, and 
repentance ; leaving our foes our friends, and 
solicitously inclined to grateful retaliation. 

Sir Thomas Browne. 



2l6 



AUGUST 3- 



As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. — 
Rev. iii. 19. 

Great Master, touch us with Thy skilful hand, 

Let not the music that is in us die ; 
Great sculptor, hew and polish us ; nor let, 

Hidden and lost, Thy form within us lie. 
Spare not the stroke, do with us as Thou wilt, 

Let there be naught unfinished, broken, marr'd; 
Complete Thy purpose, that we may become 

Thy perfect image, 0 our God and Lord. 



ROUBLES are often the tools by which 



God fashions us for better things. God 
Almighty casts a man down when He wants to 
chisel him, and the chiselling is always to make 
him something finer and better than before. 



A GEM is not polished without rubbing, nor 
is a man perfected without trials. 



HORATIUS BONAR. 




Henry Ward Beecher. 



Chinese. 



AUGUST 4. 



217 



Add to godliness brotherly kindness, and to 
brotherly kindness charity. — 2 Peter i. 7. 

O brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother, 
Where pity dwells the peace of God is there ; 

To worship rightly is to love each other, — 
Each smile a hymn, each kindly word a prayer. 

John Greenleaf Whittier. 

A S the rays come from the sun, and yet are 



not the sun, even so our love and pity, 
though they are not God, but merely a poor, 
weak image and reflection of Him, yet from 
Him alone they come. If there is mercy in 
our hearts, it comes from the Fountain of 
Mercy. If there is the light of love in us, it 
is a ray from the full sun of love. 




Charles Kingsley. 



218 



AUGUST 5. 



That all may learn, and all may be com- 
forted.— \ Cor. xiv. 31. 

When God gives to us the clearest sight, 

He does not touch our eyes with love, but sorrow. 



E must suffer in ourselves before we can 



truly love others, and we must suffer 
greatly before we can love widely. Why it is 
so we may not be able to tell, unless it be that 
only thus do we gain a thorough knowledge 
of ourselves. There is in the heart of man a 
secret chamber where God has put all human- 
ity and Himself ; touch the door with the hand 
of suffering and it flies open, and man finds 
himself one with all others, and God Himself 
in the midst of them. 



John Boyle O'Reilly. 




Theodore T. Munger. 



AUGUST 6. 



219 



Be ready to every good work. — Titus iii. 1. 

Into thy charge hath He not given space, 
All of thine own to make look green and sweet ; 

To be a haven unto troubled souls, 
To be a resting-place for weary feet ? 

Doth He require at thy hands aught but this, — 
To let thy garden show itself so fair, 

That others seeing it shall straightway go 
And till the portions given to their care ? 

V ND what is work ? Is it only some task 



of hand or brain ? Is it only accom- 
plished when we see tangible evidences of our 
toil ? Or is it, too, the checking of a petulant 
or thoughtless word, the subduing of an un- 
worthy desire, the rising above the subtle 
temptation that woos us to spiritual indolence, 
the striving to keep fresh and blooming the 
garden-plot God has given us all for our own, 
and where only by heart-work the fair flow- 
ers of " Love," " Joy," and " Peace " can be 
brought to bloom ? 




220 AUGUST 7. 



If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the 
Lord thy God, blessed shalt thou be. — * Deut. 
xxviii. 2, 3. 

0 God, within so close to me 

That every thought is plain ; 
Be judge, be friend, be Father still, 

And in Thy heaven reign ; 
Thy heaven is mine, my very soul, 

Thy words are sweet and strong, 
They fill my inward silences 

With music and with song. 

They send me challenges to right, 

And loud rebuke my ill; 
They ring my bells of victory, 

They breathe my " Peace, be still ! " 

William Channing Gannett. 



^HERE is no greater gift or possession than 
to believe God speaks to us, If we be- 
lieve that, we are already blessed. 

Martin Luther. 



AUGUST 8. 



221 



Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. — 
Job xiii. 15. 

Within the slender chalice of thy hand 

Hold fast what I give thee, and drop down 

The fringes of those tender flowers of blue, 

Thy wondering eyes ; nor question, nor withstand 

What I may give. Perchance my love hath planned 

Some sweet surprise, or test if thou be true; 

What if it be a sprig of bitter rue, 

A strange, swift summons to an unknown land, 

A hurting thorn, a cross ? rare gifts I know 

For love to bring ; but wouldst thou trust me still ? 

Quick, dear, thine answer ! "I should trust until 

The hidden meaning in thy gift should show." 

Ah, sweet, when God sends just such gifts to thee, 

Canst thou not answer Him as thou dost me ? 

Y\/E should see not only the hand of God, 



but the hand of our Heavenly Father, 
full of mercy and loving-kindness in all that 
befalls us. We should believe it to be best 
for us, because it is His will. 




George W. Bethune. 



222 



AUGUST 9. 



Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
thy might. — Eccl. ix. 10. 

Do the work that 's nearest, 
Though it 's dull at whiles, 

Helping when we meet them 
Lame dogs over stiles. 

Charles Kingsley. 

pEW are needed to do the out-of-the-way 
tasks which startle the world, and one 
may be most useful just doing common-place 
duties, and leaving the issue with God. And 
when it is all over, and our feet will run no 
more, and our hands are helpless, and we have 
scarcely strength to murmur a last prayer, then 
we shall see that instead of needing a larger 
field we have left untilled many corners of our 
single acre, and that none of it is fit for our 
Master's eye were it not for the softening 
shadow of the Cross. 

George Macdonald. 



AUGUST 10. 



223 



Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give 
thee a crown of life. — Rev. ii. 10. 

Why should our spirits be opprest 

When days of darkness fall ? 
Our Father knoweth what is best, 

And He hath made them all. 

He made them, and to all their length 

Set parallels of gain ; 
We gather from our pain the strength 

To rise above our pain. 

Alice Cary. 

OD, who in mercy and wisdom governs 
the world, would never have suffered so 
many sadnesses, and have sent them especially 
to the most virtuous and wisest men, but that 
He intends they should be the seminary of 
comfort, the nursery of virtue, the exercise of 
wisdom, the trial of patience, the venturing for 
a crown, and the crown of glory. 

Jeremy Taylor. 



AUGUST 11. 



But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three ; 
and the greatest of these is love. — i Cor. xiii. 
13 (R.V.). 



More faith, dear Lord, more faith ! 

Take all these doubts away ; 
Oh let the simple words " He saith " 

Confirm my faith each day. 



More hope, dear Lord, more hope ! 

To conquer timid fear, 
To cheer life's path as on I grope 

Till Heaven's own light appear. 



More love, dear Lord, more love ! 

Such as on earth was Thine, — 
All graces and all gifts above, 

Unselfish love be mine. 

Elizabeth C. Kinney. 



TJ OPE is the mainspring of human action ; 
* * Faith seals our lease of immortality ; 
and Charity and Love give the passport to 
the soul's true and lasting happiness. 

Street. 



AUGUST 12. 225 



Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and 
lean not unto thine own understanding, — Prov. 



Oh let Thy sacred will 
All Thy delight in me fulfil ! 
Let me not think an action mine own way, 
But as Thy love shall sway, 
Resigning up the rudder to Thy skill. 

George Herbert. 

UR helm is given up to a better guidance 



than our own. The course of events is 
quite too strong for any helmsman ; and our 
little wherry is taken in tow by the ship of the 
Great Admiral, which knows the way, and has 
the force to draw men and States and planets 
to their good. 



m. 5. 




Ralph Waldo Emerson. 



226 AUGUST 13. 



For I reckon that the sufferings of this present 
fane are not worthy to be compared with the 
glory which shall be revealed in tcs. — Rom. 
viii. 18. 

But all through life I see a cross, 

Where sons of God yield up their breath ; 
There is no gain except by loss, 

There is no life except by death ; 
There is no vision but by faith, 

Nor glory but by bearing shame, 

Nor justice but by taking blame, 
And that Eternal Passion saith, 

" Be emptied of glory and right and name." 



HE prime condition of a life ever found is 



1 a life ever lost. But there are times when 
we all feel poor and bare and sad for our losses, 
and wonder whether it was not all wrong when 
the treasure was taken away. If we are poor 
because we stand true to life and duty, we are 
poor only as the sower is poor, because he has 
to cast his wheat into the furrow and then wait 
for the sheaves of harvest. Our poverty then 
is our wealth, and our loss our gain. 



Walter C. Smith. 




Robert Collyer. 



AUGUST 14. 



227 



And thou shalt be secure, because there is 
hope, — Job xi. 18. 

And, as in sparkling majesty a star 

Gilds the bright summit of some gloomy cloud, 
Bright'ning the half-veiled face of heaven afar ; 

So when dark thoughts my boding spirit shroud, 
Sweet Hope ! celestial influence round me shed, 
Waving thy silver pinions o'er my head. 

John Keats. 

Hope is the cordial of the human heart. 

Robert Burns. 

J_J OPE never hurt any one, never yet inter- 
fered with duty ; nay, always strength- 
ens to the performance of duty, gives courage, 
and clears the judgment. Saint Paul says, 
" We are saved by hope." 

George Macdonald. 



228 



AUGUST 15. 



Bless ye the Lord, all ye His hosts, ye minis- 
ters of His that do His pleasure. Bless the 
Lord, all His works in all places of His domin- 
ion ; bless the Lord, O my soul, — Ps. ciii. 

2 1, 22. 



The meanest floweret of the vale, 
The simplest note that swells the gale, 
The common sun, the air, the skies, 
To him are opening paradise. 

Gray. 



Y^ES, we can join our hymn of praise to that 
* which goes up forever to God from sun 
and stars, clouds and showers, beasts and birds, 
and every living thing, giving thanks forever 
for His great glory. Charles KlNGSLEYt 



Let not the blessings we receive daily from 
God make us not to value or not to praise 
Him because they be common. What would 
not a blind man give to see the pleasant rivers 
and meadows and flowers and fountains that 
we have met with ? izaak Walton. 



AUGUST 16. 229 



But why dost thou judge thy brother ? — 
Rom. xiv. 10. 



The glance that doth thy neighbor doubt, 

Turn thou, 0 man, within, 
And see if it will not bring out 

Some unsuspected sin. 
To hide from shame the branded brow, 

Make broad thy charity, 
And judge no man except as thou 

Wouldst have him judge of thee. 

Alice Cary. 



C UCH as every one is inwardly, so he judg- 
eth outwardly. 

Thomas a Kempis. 



What man can judge his neighbor aright, 
save he whose love makes him refuse to judge 
him ? 

George Macdonald. 



230 



AUGUST 17. 



God is our God for ever and ever ; He will be 
our guide even unto death. — Ps. xlviii. 14. 



Thy way, not mine, 0 Lord, 

However dark it be, 
Lead me by Thine own hand, 

Choose out the path for me. 
Not mine, not mine the choice 

In thing's or great or small, 
Be Thou my guide, my strength, 

My wisdom, and my all. 



E want a guide who knows us, whether 



Y y we be self-willed and over-confident, or 
despondent and over-sensitive, or worldly and 
aspiring. We want a guide who knows our 
frame and pities us, is not vexed with our igno- 
rance or mistakes, but is tender towards us and 
patient. We want a guide who values char- 
acter, and knows how to train while He guides ; 
who guides for the purpose of training, some- 
times into very hard paths, but profitable for 
the soul. 



HORATIUS BONAR. 




Theodore Dwigbt Woolsey. 



AUGUST 18. 



231 



When I awake I am still with Thee, — Ps. 
cxxxix. 18. 

Still, still with Thee when purple morning breaketh, 
When the bird waketh and the shadows flee ; 

Fairer than morning, lovelier than the daylight, 
Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Thee ! 

Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

J WOULD ever awake with God. My first 
thoughts are for Him, who hath made the 
night for rest and the day for work, and who 
hath blessed both. If my heart be early sea- 
soned with His presence, it will savor of Him 
all the day. 



232 AUGUST 19. 



While they are yet speaking I will hear. — 

ISA. Lw. 24. 

Every inward aspiration 

Is God's angel undefiled. 
And for every " 0 my Father ! " 

Slumbers deep a " Here, my child." 

TF we use the name of God, is this not God's 
presence becoming factor in us ? No need, 
then, of being " great " to share that aspiration 
and that presence. The smallest roadside pool 
has its water from heaven and its gleam from 
the sun, and can hold the stars in its bosom as 
well as the great ocean. Even so the humblest 
man or woman can live splendidly. That is 
the royal truth that we need to learn, you and 
I who have no mission, and no great sphere to 
move in. 

William Channing Gannett. 



AUGUST 20. 



233 



Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when 
He cometh shall find so doing. — Luke xii. 43. 

Forenoon, and afternoon, and night ; forenoon, 
And afternoon, and night ; forenoon and what ? 
The empty song repeats itself ! No more ? 
Yea, that is life : make this forenoon sublime, 
This afternoon a psalm, this night a prayer ; 
And time is vanquished, and thy victory won. 



O give happiness and to do good, there is 



our only law, our anchor of salvation, 
our beacon-light, our reason for existing. All 
religions may crumble away ; so long as this 
survives we have still an ideal, and life is worth 
living. 



Edward Rowland Sill. 




Henri Frederic Amiel. 



^34 



AUGUST 21. 



And this commandment have we from Him, 
that he who loveth God love his brother also. — 
i John iv. 2 1 . 

Lovest thou God as thou oughtest, then lovest thou 

likewise thy brethren j 
One is the sun in the heaven, and one, only one, is 

Love also. 

Bears not each human figure the g'odlike stamp on his 
forehead ? 

Readest thou not in his face thine origin ? Is he not 
sailing, 

Lost like thyself on an ocean unknown ; and is he not 
guided 

By the same stars that guide thee ? Why shouldst thou 

hate then thy brother ? 
Hateth he thee ? forgive ! for 't is sweet to stammer 

one letter 

Of the Eternal's language ; — on earth it is called 
Forgiveness. 

Bishop Tegner. 



'"THEREFORE come what may, hold fast to 
* love. Though men should rend your 
heart, let them not embitter or harden it. We 
win by tenderness, we conquer by forgiveness. 

Frederick William Robertson. 



AUGUST 22. 



235 



There shall be one fold and one shepherd. — 
John x. 16. 

Wild bird flying northward, whither thou ? 

And vessel bending southward, what thy quest ? 
Clouds of the east with sunshine on your brow, 

Whither ? and crescent setting in the west ? 

Still we pursue while the white day is ours ; 

The wild bird journeys northward in his strength ; 
The tender clouds waste in their sunny bowers, — 

One shepherd guides and gathers them at length. 

Annie Fields. 

T_T E will guide us in a sure path, though it 
be a rough one ; though shadows hang 
upon it, yet He will be with us. He will bring 
us home at last. By His eye or by His voice 
He will guide us, if we be docile and gentle ; 
by His staff and by His rod, if we wander or 
are wilful ; anyhow and by all means He will 
bring us to His rest. 

Henry Edward Manning. 



236 AUGUST 23. 



/ am with thee, and will keep thee in all places 
whither thou goest. — Gen. xxviii. 15. 

Lord, be Thou near, and cheer my lonely way ; 

With Thy sweet peace my aching bosom fill ; 
Scatter my cares and fears, my griefs allay ; 
And be it mine each day 
To love and please Thee still. 

Pierre Corneille. 



\ 17 HAT a joy to know that of all things and 
all thoughts, God is nearest to us ! — so 
near that we cannot see Him ; but far beyond 
seeing Him, we can know Him infinitely. 

George Macdonald. 

God is where the sun glows ; God is where 
the violet blooms ; is where yon bird flaps its 
wings. Though no friend, no man be with 
thee, fear nothing! Thy God is here. 

DlNTER. 



AUGUST 24. 237 



O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall 
all flesh come. — Ps. lxv. 2. 

If there be Better, — and the dream of it, 

The longing for it, shows that there must be, — 

It is not in ourselves ; it is the God 

Beyond, whom our souls seek ; the search is prayer. 

More life we ask of Him who is the Life ; 

The reason why we pray is this, we must. 

Lucy Larcom. 



DRAYER is the measure of love. 

Saint Augustine. 

Prayer, administering the perpetual lesson 
of humility, of hope, of love, makes us feel 
our connection with Heaven through every 
touch of our necessities ; it binds us to Provi- 
dence by a chain of daily benefits ; it impresses 
the heart of all with a perpetual remembrance 
of the God of all. 

George Croly. 



238 AUGUST 25. 



If we confess our sins, He is faithful and 
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 
from all unrighteousness. — i John i. 9. 

What better can we do than prostrate fall 
Before Him reverent, and there confess 
Humbly our faults, and pardon beg with tears 
Wat'ring the ground? 

John Milton. 



p VERY man has two angels, — one on his 
^ right shoulder, and one on his left. 
When he does good, the angel on his right 
shoulder writes it down and seals it, because 
what is once well done is done forever. When 
he does evil, the angel on his left shoulder 
writes it down, but does not seal it. He waits 
until midnight. If, before that time, the man 
bows down his head and says, " Gracious 
Allah ! I have sinned ; forgive me," the an- 
gel rubs it out ; but if not, then at midnight 
he seals the record, and the angel upon the 
right shoulder weeps. 

Persian. 



AUGUST 26. 



239 



The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, — 
Ruth i. 9. 

Not in the changing sky, 

The stormy sea, 
Yet somewhere in God's wide world 

Rest there must be. 
Within thy Saviour's heart 

Place all thy care, 
And learn, 0 weary soul, 

Thy rest is there. 



HERE is a power in this rest in God of 



which the men who are rushing along 
the broad and dusty highway can form no 
conception. The meadows on which the soul 
refreshes itself are ever green. 



Adelaide Anne Procter. 




Tholuck. 



240 AUGUST 27. 



Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I 
will make thee ruler over many things : enter 
thou into the joy of thy Lord. — Matt. xxv. 2 1 . 

O ye that faint and die, arise and live ! 

Sing', ye that all things have a charge to bless; 
If He is faithful who has sworn to give, 

Then be ye also faithful to possess. 



I will not count 
On aught but being faithful. 

George Eliot. 



HE essential fidelity of the heart is the same, 



1 whether it be exercised in two mites or 
in a regal treasury ; the genuine faithfulness of 
the life is equally beautiful, whether it be dis- 
played in governing an empire or in writing 
an exercise. Observe the striking fact that 
our Lord does not say, " He that is faithful 
in that which is least will be faithful also in 
much/' but " He that is faithful in that which 
is least is faithful also in much." 



Anna L^titia Waring. 




Frederic W. Farrar. 



AUGUST 28. 



241 



Work out your own salvation. — Phil. ii. 12. 

And so I live, you see, 
Go through the world, try, prove, reject, 
Prefer still struggling to effect 
My warfare ; happy that I can 
De crossed and thwarted as a man, 
Nor left in God's contempt apart, 
With ghastly smooth life, dead at heart, 
Tame, in earth's paddock as her prize; 
Thank God no paradise stands barred 
To entry. 



HE religion of Jesus Christ is altogether a 



practical thing. Just consider how we 
are taught anything else that is practical. It is 
not by hearing or reading about making shoes 
that a man becomes a shoemaker, but by try- 
ing to make them. 



Robert Browning. 




Augustus Hare. 



10 



242 



AUGUST 29. 



Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and 
shall we not receive evil I — Job ii. 10. 

With patient mind thy course of duty run, 
God nothing does or suffers to be done 
But thou wouldst do thyself, couldst thou but see 
The end of all events as weli as He. 

Dr. Byrom. 



r\F nothing may we be more sure than this : 
^ if we cannot sanctify our present lot, we 
could sanctify no other. Our heaven and our 
Almighty Father are there, or nowhere. The 
obstructions of that lot are given for us to 
heave away by the concurrent touch of a holy 
spirit and labor of strenuous will, its gloom for 
us to tint with some celestial light, its mys- 
teries are for our worship, its sorrows for our 
trust, its perils for our courage, its temptations 
for our faith. Soldiers of the Cross, it is not 
for us, but for our Leader and our Lord to 
choose the field. It is ours, taking the station 
which He assigns, to make it a field of truth 
and honor, though it be a field of death. 

James Martineau. 



AUGUST 30. 



243 



If ye seek Him, He will be found of you. — 
2 Chron. xv. 2. 

Onward we sweep through smooth and storm, 
We are voyagers all in shine or gloom, 

And the dreamer who skulks by his chimney warm 
Drifts in his sleep to doom, — to doom. 

John Sterlinc. 

'"THE great thing in this world is not so much 



where we stand as in what direction we 
are moving. To reach the port of heaven, we 
must sail sometimes with the wind and some- 
times against it, but we must sail, and not drift 
nor lie at anchor. 



No wind serves him who addresses his voy- 
age to no certain port. 




Oliver Wendell Holmes. 



Montaigne. 



244 AUGUST 31. 



Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead me in 
a plain path. — Ps. xxvii. 1 1. 



All is uncertainty; 

Yet over all 
One guideth steadily 

Great things and small. 
What will the issue be ? — 

God guideth all. 



HERE is no authority short of God. Look 



up to Him, expect His teachings. And 
though clouds of uncertainty may come, never 
let them make you turn your eyes away in 
discouragement, or think that on the earth 
you can find that guidance which is not a 
thing of earth, but which must come to us 
from heaven. 



James Freeman Clarke. 




Phillips Brooks. 



SEPTEMBER 1. 245 



Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. — 
Matt. vi. 34. 

Because in a day of my days to come 

There waiteth a grief to be, 
Shall my heart grow faint and my lips be dumb 

In this day that is bright for me ? 



HE present is all we have to manage ; the 



past is irrevocable, the future is uncer- 
tain; nor is it fair to burden one moment 
with the weight of the next. Sufficient unto 
the moment is the trouble thereof. In looking 
forward to future life, let us recollect that we 
have not to sustain all its toil, to endure all its 
sufferings, or to encounter all its crosses at once. 
One moment comes laden with its own little 
burden, then flies, and is succeeded by another 
no heavier than the last ; if one could be sus- 
tained, so can another and another. 



Margaret E. Sangster. 




Jane Taylor, 



246 SEPTEMBER 2. 



The Lord your God is gracious and merciful, 
and will not turn away His face froin you. — 
2 Chron. xxx. 9. 

0 Thou our soul's chief hope ! 
. We to Thy mercy fly ; 
Where'er we are, Thou canst protect, 
Whate'er we need supply. 



HOU, God, art whatever Thou art in Thy- 



self ; for Thou art Thine own wisdom, 
Thine own goodness, Thine own power, and 
above all else art merciful ! What art Thou 
but mercy and love ? Thou canst not depart 
from Thine own nature. Deep calls to deep ; 
the deep of misery calls to the deep of mercy. 
May the deep of mercy swallow up the deep 
of misery. Have mercy upon me ! not ac- 
cording to the mercy of man, which is small, 
but according to the mercy of God, which is 
great, which is infinite. 



John Austin. 




Savonarola. 



SEPTEMBER 3. 247 



Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God, — 
1 Cor. x. 31. 

Teach me, my God and King, 

In all things Thee to see, 
And what I do in anything, 

To do it as for Thee. 

All may of Thee partake ; 

Nothing can be so mean 
Which, with this tincture, "for Thy sake, ,, 

Will not grow bright and clean. 



E treat God with irreverence by banish- 



ing Him from our thoughts, not by 
referring to His will on slight occasions. He 
is not a finite authority or intelligence, which 
cannot be troubled with small things. There 
is nothing so small but that we may honor 
God by asking His guidance of it, or insult 
Him by taking it into our own hands. 



George Herbert. 




John Ruskin. 



248 SEPTEMBER 4. 



There hath no temptation taken you bict such 
as is common to man ; but God is faithful, who 
will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye 
are able ; but will with the temptation also make 
a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it. — 
i Cor. x. 13. 



Be it good or ill, be it what you will, 
It needs must help me on my road, — 
My rugged way to heaven, please God. 

Christina G. Rossetti. 



OD help you to do something more than 
to resist your temptation. God help you 
to do something more than simply to come 
down as if you had resisted an enemy. God 
help you to come forth not merely strong, but 
stronger ; not merely having kept the strength 
you have, but filled with a new and inspir- 
ing strength, which subsists in these three 
great things which have taken possession of 
your soul, — your consciousness that God is 
over you, that the power of God is in you, 
and that every one led into temptation is the 
child of God. PHILLIPS BR00KSi 



SEPTEMBER 5. 249 



This is the message that ye heard from the 
begimiing, that we should love one another. — 
1 John iii. 11. 

" I love God," said the saint. God spake above, 
" Who loveth me must love those whom I love." 
" I scourge myself," the hermit cried. God spake : 
" Kindness is prayer, but not a self-made ache." 



E are farthest away from God when we 
cannot perceive Him in our fellow- 



I am satisfied I am on the right path so long- 
as I can see anything to make me happier. 
Anything to make me love man, therefore 
God the more. God is not far from that 
heart to which man is near. 



John Boyle O'Reilly. 




beings. 



Lucy Larcom. 



James Russell Lowell. 



2SO SEPTEMBER 6. 



Not as I will 9 but as Thou wilt. — Matt. 
xxvi. 39. 

" Not as I will; " the sound grows sweet 

Each time my lips the words repeat. 
" Not as I will ; " the darkness feels 

More safe than light when this thought steals 

Like whispered voice to calm and bless 

All unrest and all loneliness. 
11 Not as I will," because the One 

Who loved us first and best has gone 

Before us on the road, and still 

For us must all His love fulfil, 
" Not as we will." 

H. H. 

D ESIGNATION to the will of God is the 
* ^ whole of piety ; it includes in it all that 
is good, and is a source of the most settled 
quiet and composure of mind. It is a temper 
particularly suited to our mortal condition, and 
what we should endeavor after for our own 
sakes in our passage through such a world as 
this, where there is nothing upon which we can 
rest or depend. 

Bishop Butler. 



SEPTEMBER 7. 251 



Whatsoever ye would that men should do to 
you 9 do ye even so to them. — Matt. vii. 12. 

Do not look for wrong and evil, 

You will find them if you do ; 
As you measure for your neighbor, 

He will measure back to you. 

Look for goodness, look for gladness, 
You will meet them all the while ; 

If you bring a smiling visage 
To the glass, you meet a smile. 

Alice Gary. 

jyi AN must become just and good through a 
just and good mode of treatment. Good 
must call forth good. This reminds me of that 
beautiful Swedish legend of the Middle Ages, — 
about the youth who was changed by a witch 
into a were-wolf , but who at the sound of his 
Christian name spoken by a loving voice would 
recover his original shape, 

Fredrika Bremer, 



252 



SEPTEMBER 8. 



A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. — - 
Prov. xvii. 22. 

Jog on, jog on the foot-path way, 
And merrily hent the stile-a ; 

A merry heart goes all the day, 
Your sad tires in a mile-a. 

Shakespeare.. 

T AUGHING cheerfulness throws sunlight on 



all the paths of life. Peevishness covers 
with its dark fog even the most distant hori- 
zon. Sorrow causes more absence of mind 
and confusion than so-called levity. 




Jean Paul Friederich Richter. 



It is ever my thought that the most God- 
fearing man should be the most blithe man. 

Thomas Carlyle, 



SEPTEMBER 9. 253 



Casting all your care upon Him; for He 
careth for you. — 1 Peter v. 7. 

If you fear, 

Cast all your care on God ; that anchor holds. 

Alfred Tennyson. 

A ND so when we are lost in the great maze 



of life, and wander through the streets 
of this world feeling that the familiar path is 
gone, when we see no landmark of duty, no 
inspiring light of attractive work, and know 
not where we are, then, if our trust in God 
does not fail us, we learn lessons we should 
not otherwise gain. We learn self-direction or 
humility; we learn to cast our care on Him 
who cares for us ; we learn to be grateful for 
every kindness that others can do us, and to 
respect all forms of life, and call no man 
common. 




James Freeman Clarke. 



254 



SEPTEMBER 10. 



Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day 
long. — Prov. xxiii. 1 7. 

So here hath been dawning 

Another blue day ; 
Think, wilt thou let it 

Slip useless away ? 

Out of eternity 

This new day is born ; 
Into eternity 

At night doth return. 

Thomas Carlyle. 

'"THE misspents of every minute are a new 



record against us in heaven. Sure, if we 
thought thus, we should dismiss them with 
better reports, and not suffer them to fly away 
empty, or laden with dangerous intelligence. 
How happy is it when they carry up not only 
the message, but the fruits of good, and stay 
with the Ancient of Days to speak for us be- 
fore His glorious throne. 




John Milton. 



SEPTEMBER 11. 255 



He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth ihe 
hungry soul with goodness, — Ps. cvii. 9. 

More than our feeble hearts can ever pine 

For holiness, 
The Father, in His tenderness divine, 

Yearneth to bless. 

Frances Power Cobbe. 



ROOT set in the finest soil, in the best 



climate, and blessed with all that sun and 
air and rain can do for it, is not in so sure a 
way of its growth to perfection, as every man 
may be whose spirit aspires after all that which 
God is ready and infinitely desirous to give 
him. For the sun meets not the springing bud 
that stretches toward him with half that cer- 
tainty as God, the source of all good, commu- 
nicates Himself to the soul that longs to partake 
of Him. 




William Law. 



256 



SEPTEMBER 12. 



And He said, Come. — Matt. xiv. 29. 



" Come unto me, ye weary, 

And I will give you rest." 
O blessed voice of Jesus, 

Which comes to hearts oppressed ! 
It tells of benediction, 

Of pardon, grace, and peace, 
Of joy that hath no ending, 

Of love which cannot cease. 



HRIST says, "Come unto me, ye weary 



^ and heavy-laden, — come, and 1 will 
teach you how to live, so that life shall be no 
more a failure; I will guide you to living 
fountains. Follow me, and ye shall find rest 
for your souls." And who doubts that prom- 
ise ? Who does not know that the misery of 
his life is in the disorder and anarchy of his 
soul, not in his outward lot ? Who does not 
know that redemption from human misery 
must begin in a regeneration of the soul, in 
the awakening of its true life, and in the con- 
secration of it to God ? 




Ephraim Peabody. 



SEPTEMBER 13. 257 



But to do good and to communicate forget 
not — Heb. xiii. 16. 



A heart-felt smile, a gentle tone, 
A thoughtful word, a tender touch, 

A passing act of kindness done, — 
T is all, but it is much. 

These are not things to win applause, 
No earthly fame awaiteth such ; 

But surely by the heavenly laws 
They are accounted much. 



J^IND looks, kind words, kind acts, and 
warm hand-shakes, — these are secon- 
dary means of grace when men are in trouble, 
and are fighting their unseen battles. 

John Hall. 



Kindness has converted more sinners than 
either zeal, eloquence, or learning. 

Frederick William Faber, 

17 



258 SEPTEMBER 14. 



In Him we live, and move, and have our 
being, — x\cts xvii. 28. 

Thou knowest me altogether ; I knew not 

Thy likeness till Thou mad'st it manifest. 
There is no world but is Thy heaven ; no spot 

Remote ; Creation leans upon Thy breast ; 
Thou art beyond all stars, yet in my heart 

Wonderful whisperings hold Thy creatures dumb ; 
I need not search afar ; to me Thou art 

Father, Redeemer, and Renewer, — - come ! 

Jean Ingelow. 

T T E is very near every one of us ; is the in- 
spiration of every thought that seeks 
Him ; is approachable by every soul that 
would be lifted higher, with the symbols if 
they aid, without them if one choose. He is 
the great fountain of influence, filling human 
life and thought with power of development. 

Henry Ward Beecher. 



SEPTEMBER 15. 259 



The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you 
and keep you. — ■ 2 Thess. iii. 3. 

Lord, hearts are willing, but the flesh is weak, 

Thou knowest ; help us in Thy strength divine 
Ever to watch, to pray, to hear Thee speak, 
And to Thy loving hands ourselves resign, 
Now and alway. 

Margaret E. Sangster. 

\A/HY should we give ourselves grudgingly, 



or of necessity, to the love of God ? 
Why hesitate and tremble, and think we are 
not good enough to love Him, or to be loved 
by Him ? Love does not hesitate. Love leaves 
all, and follows. 




James Freeman Clarke. 



26o SEPTEMBER 16. 



Study to show thyself approved unto God, a 
workman that needeth not to be ashamed. — 
2 Tim. ii. 15. 

One by one thy duties wait thee, 
Let thy whole heart go to each, 

Let no future dream elate thee, 
Learn thou first what these can teach. 

Adelaide Anne Procter. 

HTHE consciousness of duty performed gives 
* us music at midnight. 

George Herbert. 

Do thy duty, and be at peace with God and 
thine own conscience. There can be no true 
peace for thee apart from the honest and daily 
discharge of those obligations, great and small, 
which come into thy life from the Creator, 
and which, rightly viewed, are angels of divine 
discipline. Thou hast too much to say about 
thy rights, and thinkest too little about thy 
duties. Thou hast but one inalienable right; 
and that is the sublime one of doing thy duty 
at all times, under all circumstances, and in all 

P^ aces * Frederic R. Maroin. 



SEPTEMBER 17. 261 



Ye we all the children of light and the chil- 
dren of the day. — 1 Thess. v. 5. 

If one looks upon the bright side, 

It is sure to be the right side, 
At least that 's how I 've found it as I ve journeyed 
through each day. 

And it 's queer how shadows vanish, 

And how easy 't is to banish 
From a bright side sort of nature every doleful thing 



HERE are souls in the world who have the 



1 gift of finding joy everywhere, and leav- 
ing it behind them when they go. Their in- 
fluence is an inevitable gladdening of the heart. 
They give light without meaning to shine. 
Their bright hearts have a great work to do 
for God. 



The habit of looking at the best side of any 
event is worth far more than a thousand pounds 
a year. 



away. 



Mary D. Brine. 




Frederick W. Faber. 



Samuel Johnson. 



262 SEPTEMBER 18. 



Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit 
the earth, — Matt. v. 5. 

He that is down need fear no fall, 

He that is low no pride ; 
He that is humble ever shall 

Have God to be his guide. 

I am content with what I have, 

Little be it or much ; 
And, Lord, contentment still I crave, 

Because Thou savest such. 

John Bunyan. 

TIE and he only possesses the earth as he 
* * goes toward heaven, by being humble 
and cheerful, and content with what his good 
God has allotted him. He has no turbulent, 
repining, vexatious thoughts that he deserves 
better; nor is he vexed when he sees others 
possessed of more honor or more riches than 
his wise God has allotted for his share. But 
he possesses what he has with a meek and con- 
tented quietness. God has two dwellings, — 
one in heaven, and the other in a meek and 
thankful heart. izaak Walton. 



SEPTEMBER 19. 263 



/ will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. — 
Ps. xxiii. 4. 

In Heavenly Love abiding, 

No change my heart shall fear, 
And safe is such confiding, 

For nothing changes here. 
The storm may roar without me, 

My heart may low be laid, 
But God is round about me, • 

And can I be dismayed ? 

Anna L^titia Waring. 

JUST suppose that we could get rid of all un- 
^ necessary and previous terror; just sup- 
pose that we could be sure of final victory in 
every conflict, and final emergence out of every 
shadow into brightest day ; how our hearts 
would be lightened, how much more bravely 
we should work and fight and march forward ! 
This is the courage to which we are entitled, 
and which we may find in the thought that 
God is with us everywhere. The course of 
our journey has been appointed by Him ; He 
knows the way even through the darkness. 

Henry Van Dyke. 



264 SEPTEMBER 20. 



Look unto Me, and be ye saved ; . . . for I 
a?n God, and there is none else. — - Isa. xlv. 2 2 . 

Think thou, 0 mariner, on the deathless joy 
Of voyaging toward a beacon that shall save 
Both thee and me, nor any death destroy. 



HE true home for us lies beyond those 



waters, and, oh ! the rudder needs a firm 
hand, and the voyager a stout heart. So, then, 
whatever our voyage may hitherto have been, 
when we have gazed from the stern on the 
shores that fade behind us, and afterwards, as 
we turn away again to look on the misty un- 
certainties of all that may assist us in our future 
course, let us pray that touching prayer of the 
Breton mariners, " Save us, O God ! Thine 
ocean is so large, and our little boat so small." 



Annie Fields. 




Frederic W. Farrar. 



SEPTEMBER 21. 



265 



Behold, the tabernacle of God is ivith men, 
and He will dwell with them. — Rev. xxi, 3. 

How far from here to heaven ? 

Not very far, my friend ; 
A single, hearty step 

Will all thy journey end. 
Hold then ! Where runnest thou ? 

Heaven is within thee, 
Seek'st thou for God elsewhere, 

His face thou 'It never see. 

Angelds Silesius. 

JF that thou seekest thou findest not within 
thee, thou wilt never find it without thee. 

Arabian. 

Moses asked of God where He was, and 
God said : ki ' Know that when thou hast sought 
me, thou hast already found me." 

Arabian. 



266 SEPTEMBER 22. 



Follow peace with all men, and holiness, with- 
out which no man shall see the Lord, — Heb. 
xii. 14. 

We do not need to dwell apart 
From earthly cares of hand and heart, 
Nor seek some chapel sweet and dim, 
To meet our Lord and talk with Him. 
Where'er with patience we fulfil 
The purpose of the Father's will, 
His presence makes that holy place 
A temple where we see His face. 
A cradle-side may ofttime be 
An altar ; and the ministry 
Of homely toil is dearer far 
To Christ than idle anthems are. 

Y\7 HEN EVER you will try to do your duty 
trusting* in God; whenever you will 
forgive those whom you think have injured 
you, and do good to those who treat you with 
seeming scorn ; when you will put out of your 
heart envy and low ambition, poor vanity, self- 
conceit, and give yourself to what is generous, 
true, and lovely, — you will discover that Christ 
has already come. 

James Freeman Clarke. 



SEPTEMBER 23 



267 



That the Lord thy God may bless thee in all 
the work of thine hand which thou doest. — 
Deut. xiv. 29. 

No earnest work 
Of any honest creature, howbeit weak, 
Imperfect, ill-adapted, tails so much 
It is not gathered, as a grain of sand. 
To enlarge the sum of human action used 
For carrying out God's plan. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 

Our life is but a little holding, lent 
To do a mighty labor. We are one 
With heaven and the stars when it is spent 
To serve God's aim. 

George Meredith. 

CIND your niche, and fill it. If it be ever 
so little, if it is only to be hewer of wood 
or drawer of water, do something in this great 
battle for God and truth. 

Spurgeon. 



268 SEPTEMBER 24. 



If any man will come after me, let him deny 
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow 
me. — Luke ix. 23. 

Minf. is a daily cross of petty cares, 

01 little duties pressing on my heart, 
Of little troubles hard to reconcile, 

Of inward troubles overcome in part. 

I dare not lay it down ; I only ask 
That, taking up my daily cross, I may 

Follow my Master, humbly, step by step, 
Through clouds and darkness, unto perfect day. 



CHRIST comes to us morning by morning 
to present to us for the day then open- 
ing divers little crosses, thwartings of our own 
will, interferences with our plans, disappoint- 
ments of our little pleasures. Do we kiss 
them, and take them up and follow in his 
rear, like Simon the Cyrenian, or do we toss 
them from us scornfully because they are so 
little, and wait for some great affliction to ap- 
prove our patience and resignation to His will ? 
Despise not little crosses ; for when taken up 
and lovingly accepted at the Lord's hand, they 
have made men meet for a great crown, even 
the crown of righteousness and life, which the 
Lord hath promised to them that love Him. 

Edward Meyrick Gouldburn. 



SEPTEMBER 25. 269 



And we have known and believed the love that 
God hath to us. God is love ; and he that dwell- 
eth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. — 
1 John iv. 16. 

They only miss 
The winning of that perfect bliss. 

Who will not count it true that love, 
Blessing, not cursing, rules above, 
And that in it we live and move. 



LL you need strive for is to love God 



more, — more singly and simply ; to 
still the human actings and impulses of your 
being in Him. Love is of God ; it is a divine 
gift. Do not seek to crush it ; seek to keep it 
steadfast, and seek to help others by love, by 
letting their love for you draw them upward 
and closer to God, the Fount of all love. 



Richard Chenevix Trench. 




Harriet Monsell. 



270 SEPTEMBER 26. 



He that loveth not k?ioweth not God ; for God 
is love. — i John iv. 8. 

God is love, saith the Evangel ; and our world of woe 
and sin 

Is made light and happy only when a love is shining 



HE pressure of a hand, a kiss, the caress of 



a child, will do more to save sometimes 
than the wisest argument even rightly under- 
stood. Love alone is wisdom ; love alone is 
power. And where love seems to fail, it is 
where self has stepped between and dulled the 
potency of its rays. 



in. 



John Greenleaf Whittier. 



Have patience with our loss and pain, 
Our troubled space of days so small, 

We shall not reach our arms in vain, 
For Love shall save us all. 



Celia Thaxter. 




George Macdonald. 



SEPTEMBER 27. 271 



Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst 
after righteousness ; for they shall be filled. — 
Matt. v. 6. 

The body is not much. 'T were best 
Take up the soul and leave the rest. 
It seems to me the man who leaves 
The soul to perish is as one 
Who gathers up the empty sheaves 
When all the golden grain is done. 



HE more the soul withdraws, so to speak, 



from the body, and retires within itself, 
the more it rises above itself; and the more 
closely it cleaves to God, the more the life it 
lives on this earth resembles that which it will 
enjoy in heaven, and the larger foretaste it has 
of the first fruits of that blessed harvest. As- 
pire, therefore, to holiness, without which no 
man shall see the Lord. 



Joaquin Miller, 




Archbishop Leighton, 



272 SEPTEMBER 28. 



/ have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction, — 
Isa. xlviii. io. 

Who watched the artist paint a porcelain cup 
Did wonder when he gathered brushes up, 
And said, " My task is done," 

That on the toy's fine rim, 

A border black and grim 
Contrasted hatefully with gentle tint 
Of pink and azure, blond and beryl hint, 
And mocked those threads of sun, 

That made the cup a prize 

To ravish royal eyes. 

" Why leave this scowl of black ? " one dared inquire. 
The artist answered, " Clay must taste the fire, 
And by that test be tried." 

Snatched from the furnace heat, 

Transfigured and complete, 
The dazzling gift comes crowned with aureole gleam, 
Its black all changed to gold. So, like a dream, 
Heart said to heart that sighed, 

Grief may be joy at last, 

When life's fierce test has passed. 

"THE child of God is assured that all things 
* work together for good ; in this is plainly 
included the pledge that chastisements and af- 
flictions shall eventually prove a blessing. 

J. W. Alexander, 



SEPTEMBER 29. 273 



The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. — Gal. v. 22. 



And make a place in thy great heart for her, 
And give her time to grow, and cherish her. 
Then will she come, and oft will say to thee 
When thou art working in the furrows, — ay, 
Or weeding in the sacred hour of dawn. 
It is a comely fashion to be glad. 
Joy is the grace we say to God. 



y^LL god-like things are joyous. They have 
touched God, and so they carry with 
them an irresistible gladness everywhere. 

Frederick \V. Faber. 



So take joy home, 



Jean Ingelow. 




1 3 



274 SEPTEMBER 30. 



Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he 
that doeth the will of my Father which is in 
heaven, — Matt. vii. 21. 

" What shall I do to be forever known ?" 

"Thy duty ever; " 
"Thus did full many who yet slept unknown," — 

" Oh ! never, never; 
Thinkest thou perchance that they remain alone, 

Whom thou know'st not ? 
By angel trumps in heaven their praise is blown ; 

Divine their lot ! " 

" What shall I do to gain eternal life ? " 

"Discharge aright 
The simple dues with which each day is rife, 

Yea, with thy might, 
Ere perfect scheme of action thou devise, 

Will life be fled, 
While he who ever acts as conscience cries 

Shall live, though dead." 

Friedrich Von Schiller. 

A SK God to show you your duty, and then 
do that duty well ; and from that point 
you mount to the very peak of vision. 

Edward Everett Hale. 



OCTOBER 1. 275 



Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and 
He in us, because He hath give?i us of His 
Spirit. — 1 John iv. 13. 

Alone with Thee, my God ! alone with Thee ! 
Thus wouldst Thou have it still, thus let it be; 
There is a secret chamber in each mind 

Which none can find 
But He who made it ; none beside can know 

Its joy or woe. 
Oft may I enter it, oppressed by care, 

And find Thee there ; 
So full of watchful love, Thou knowest the why 

Of every sigh. 
Then all Thy righteous dealings shall I see, 
Alone with Thee, my God ! alone with Thee ! 



NLY in the sacredness of inward silence 



does the soul truly meet the secret -hiding 
God. The strength of resolve, which after- 
wards shapes life and mixes itself with action, 
is the fruit of those sacred, solitary moments 
when we meet God alone. 



LittelFs Living Age. 




Frederick William Robertson. 



276 OCTOBER 2. 



Rich toward God. — Luke xii. 2 1 . 

Richest are they 

That live for Christ so well, 

The longest day 

Would scarce suffice to tell 

In what wide ways their benefactions fell. 

D ICH with no very great things, but with 
the little daily self-denials, the speaking 
a cheerful word when the heart is weary, the 
patient, steady performance of duties that come 
with every returning day, — little things, and 
yet they contain the riches with which God is 
well pleased. 

Rose Porter. 

Where there is most of God, there is least 
of self. 

Benjamin Whichcote. 



OCTOBER 3. 277 



For none of us liveth to himself, — Rom. xiv. 7. 



I live for those who love me, 

For those who know me true, 
For the heaven that smiles above me, 

And awaits my spirit too, 
For the cause that lacks assistance, 
For the wrongs that need resistance, 
For the future in the distance, 
For the good that I can do. 



INFLUENCE is as inseparable from character 
* as the fragrance is from the flower, or the 
shadow from the substance. Every one that 
lives, therefore, lives not merely unto himself, 
but has a subtle effluence always radiating from 
him that produces some effect on others. On 
the rocks beneath us you will find the impress 
of the tiniest insect as well as that of the largest 
megatherium ; and so in the strata of society, 
each man has his own place to fill, and will 
leave his own mark behind for blessing or for 
the reverse, 

William M. Taylor. 



278 OCTOBER 4. 



Be thou an example . , . in word, in conver- 
sation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, — 
i Tim. iv. 12. 



What light, strength, and beauty may after him go : 



None guesseth how wondrous the journey may prove. 



THERS are affected by what I am and 



^ say and do. And these others have also 
their sphere of influence. So that a single act 
of mine may spread in widening circles through 
a nation or humanity. 



The doors of your soul are open on others, 
and theirs on you. Simply to be in this 
world, whatever you are, is to exert an influ- 
ence, — an influence compared with which 
mere language and persuasion are feeble. 



For no one doth know 
What he can bestow ; 



Thus onward we move, 
And save God above, 




William Ellery Channing. 



Horace Bushnell, 



OCTOBER 5. 279 



If ye love me y keep my commandments. — John 
xiv. 15. 



Love God, and love thy neighbor ; watch and pray. 
These are the words and works of life ; this do, 
And live ; who doth not this hath lost heav'n's way. 



HEN a man is told that the whole of 



religion and morality is summed up 
in the two commandments, — to love God and 
to love our neighbor, he is ready to cry, like 
Charoba in Gebir, at the first sight of the sea, 
" Is this the mighty ocean ? Is this all ? " Yes, 
all ; but how small a part of it do your eyes 
survey ! Only trust yourself to it, launch out 
upon it, sail abroad over it, you will find it has 
no end ; it will carry you round the world. 



Doe as thou wouldst be done unto ; 



Henry Vaughan. 




Julius Hare. 



28o OCTOBER 6. 



Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain 
mercy. — Matt. v. 7. 

Teach me to feel another's woe, 

To hide the fault I see ; 
That mercy I to others show, 

That mercy show to me. 

Alexander Pope. 

JMO one thing does human life more need 
than a kind consideration of men's faults. 
Every one sins ; every one needs forbearance. 
Their own imperfections should teach men to 
be merciful. God is merciful because He is 
perfect. As men grow toward the Divine, they 
become gentle, forgiving, compassionate. The 
absence of a merciful spirit is evidence of the 
want of true holiness. A soul that has really 
entered into the life of Christ carries in itself 
a store of nourishment, and a cordial for help- 
less souls around it. 

Henry Ward Beecher. 



OCTOBER 7. 281 



It doth not yet appear what we shall be, — 
1 John iii. 2. 

Have we not all, amid life's petty strife, 
Some pure ideal of a noble life 
That once seemed possible ? Did we not hear 
The flutter of its wings, and feel it near, 
And just within our reach ? It was ; and yet 
We lost it in this daily jar and fret, 
And now live idle in a vague regret ; 
But still our place is kept, and it will wait, 
Ready for us to fill it soon or late. 



HERE is no joy, there is no beauty, there 



is no glory of living or acting, no su- 
preme moment you can picture in your dreams, 
that is not in your life as God sees it, stirring 
in the intuition you have of it now, waiting 
for you in the glorious fulfilment that shall 
be there. 



Adelaide Anne Procter. 




Adeline D T. Whitney, 



282 OCTOBER 8. 



And the work of righteousness shall be peace ; 
and the effect of righteousness ; quietness and 
assurance forever. — - Isa. xxxii. 17. 

Follow with reverent steps the great example 
Of Him whose holy work was " doing good;" 

So shall the wide earth seem our Father's temple, 
Each loving life a psalm of gratitude. 



O remedy evil, to strive for good, not to 



neglect the little daily duties and benefi- 
cences of life, the gracious acts, the tender 
courtesies, the tolerant appreciations, — in one 
word, to love God and our neighbor, and to 
believe on the name of Jesus Christ, and to 
love one another as He gave us command- 
ment, — this is to live as Christ lived on 
earth. 



John Greenleaf Whittier. 




Frederic William Farrar. 



OCTOBER 9. 283 



Nozv the God of hope Jill you with all joy 
and peace in believing, that ye may abowtd in 
hope. — Rom. xv. 13. 

Ah ! yet when all is thought and said, 
The heart still overrules the head ; 
Still what we hope we must believe, 
And what is given us receive ; 

Must still believe, for still we hope 
That in a world of larger scope, 
What here is faithfully begun 
Will be completed, not undone. 



LL which happens through the whole 



world, happens through hope. No hus- 
bandman would sow a grain of corn if he did 
not hope it would spring up and bring forth 
the ear. How much more we are helped on 
by hope in the way to eternal life. 



Arthur Hugh Clough. 




Martin Luther. 



284 OCTOBER 10. 



Verily I say unto you. Whosoever shall not 
receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he 
shall not enter therein. — Mask x. 15. 

Do like a child, and lean and rest 

Upon thy Father's arm j 
Pour out thy troubles on His breast. 

And thou shalt know no harm. 
Then shalt thou by His hand be brought 
By ways which now thou knowest not. 
Up through a well-fought fight, 
To heavenly peace and light. 



FATHER, who art all in all perfect be- 



w yond the longing of Thy children, — 
and we are all and altogether Thine, — Thou 
wilt make us pure and loving and free. We 
shall stand fearless in Thy presence, because 
perfect in Thy love. Oh ! let the heart of a 
child be given to us, that we may arise from 
the grave of our dead selves, and die no more, 
but see face to face the God of the living. 



Paul Gephardt. 




George Macdonald. 



OCTOBER 11. 



285 



He leadeth me. — Ps. xxiii. 2. 

Through many a thorny path He leads 

My tired feet, 
Through many a path of tears I go ; 

But it is sweet 
To know that He is close to me, 

My God, my Guide ; 
He leadeth me, and so I walk 

Quite satisfied. 

IKE Alpine climbers, our only safety is in 



steadfastly fixing our gaze on Him, our 
Guide, and following step by step the path He 
trod, that He might know all the dangers and 
difficulties that beset our way. And we may 
be sure He will never lead us further or faster 
than we can safely follow. 




Rose Porter. 



286 OCTOBER 12. 



Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that 
are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the 
weak, be patient toward all men. — i Thess. v. 14. 

What are we set on earth for ? Say, to toil, 

Nor seek to leave the tending- of the vines ; 

For all the heat o' day till it declines 

And death's mild curfew shall from work assoil. 

God did anoint thee with His odorous oil 

To wrestle, not to reign ; and He assigns 

All thy tears over like pure crystallines 

For younger fellow-workers of the soil 

To wear for amulets. So others shall 

Take patience, labor to their heart and hand, 

From thy hand and thy heart and thy brave cheer ; 

And God's grace fructify through thee to all, 

The least flower with a brimming cup may stand 

And share its dew-drop with another near. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 



C VERY man and woman trying to be honest, 
pure, and helpful in this world finds that 
the very highest work set before them is self- 
sacrifice. Very few of us have the chance of 
heroic self-devotion, but every day brings the 
petty, wearing sacrifice which weighs full weight 
in God's scales. Samuel Osgood. 



OCTOBER 13. 



287 



Withhold not good from them to whom it is 
due. — Prov. iii. 2 7. 

Be quick to praise, be slow to scorn, 
For what the future holds, — who knows ? 

To-day the vine has but a thorn, 
To-morrow brings the rose. 

'THERE are a few hardy souls that can strug- 



gle on stony soil, shrubs that can wait for 
the dew and sunbeams, vines that will climb 
without kindly training, — but only a few. 
Utter the kind word when you can, give the 
helping praise when you see it is deserved. The 
thought that " no one knows and no one cares " 
blights many a bud of promise. 




283 OCTOBER 14. 



I will help thee, saith the Lord. — Isa. xli. 14. 

There ran a whisper through the listening sky, 
" Look up and fear not, do thy work in joy ; 
Train nerve and sinew in the glad employ 

Of simple souls that neither strive nor cry ; 
Drink happy draughts of love that will not cloy ; 

Life shall not fail thee, for thy Lord is nigh." 



HEN do we lift each other up ? Must we 



gain a height first, or can we reach up 
our feebleness together to the Hands that do 
offer us a mighty help from on high ? Near- 
doing, and near-living, and near-loving, these 
life particles make the great heaven, as the lit- 
tle polarized atoms of light, all magnetized one 
way, make the great blue in which the stars 
burn forever. 




Adeline T. D. Whitney. 



OCTOBER 15. 289 



Freely ye have received, freely give. — Matt. 
x. 8. 

The Hand that strews the earth with flowers, 
Enriched the marriage feast with wine ; 

The Hand once pierced for sins of ours, 
This morning- made the dew-drops shine. 

It freely gives its very best, 

Not barely what the need may be, 
But for the joy of making blest ; 

Teach us to love and give like Thee. 

Not narrowly men's claims to measure, 

But daily question all our powers. — 
" To whose cup can we add a pleasure, 

Whose path can we make bright with flowers ?" 

Elizabeth Charles. 



OPPORTUNITIES come reaching out their 
^ hands to us every moment, not to do 
great things perhaps, but for the 

" Little, daily, unremembered acts 
Of kindness and of love," 

that take off the chill from our undemonstra- 
tive matter-of-fact intercourse with one another, 
and keep our hearts from starvation. 

Lucy Larcom. 

19 



290 OCTOBER 16, 



Let the Lord do that which is good in His 
sight. — i Chron. xix. 13. 

Our one sure safety we reject and miss. 
When once we make our good the test of His, 
His final ends surpass our feeble sense, 
His plan is greater than our preference. 
Who told us we had any right to bliss ? 
Our tears are but our arrogant conceit. — 
Two things that grow and yield the sweetest sweet ; 
The lofty cocoa-palm and sugar-cane 
As well on waters salt as on fresh rain 
Will thrive, and in their sap and fruit complete 
No lurking taste of bitter will remain. 



J^EST satisfied that whatever is by the ap- 
pointment of Heaven is right, is best. 

James Hervey. 

I found it better for my soul to be humble 
before the mysteries 0' God's dealing's, and not 
be making a clatter about what I could never 
understand. 



H. H. 




George Eliot. 



OCTOBER 17. 291 



Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. — 
James iv. 14. 

Seek not to know to-morrow's doom ; 
That is not ours which is to come, 
The present moment's all our store. 

CONGREVE. 



often distress ourselves greatly in the 
apprehension of misfortune which after 
all never happens at all. We should do our 
best, and wait calmly the result, We often 
hear of people breaking' down from overwork ; 
but in nine cases out of ten they are really 
suffering from worry or anxiety. 

Sir John Lubbock. 



292 OCTOBER 18. 



Let me depart, that L may go to mine own 
country. — i Kings xi. 21. 

For strangers into life we come, 
And dying is but going home. 

TTOW can a great soul be happy here? 
* 1 Those who have been amid mountains, 
and are condemned to live on plains, die of an 
incurable nostalgia. It is because we have 
issued from above that we sigh for it, and that 
all music is to us a reminiscence of our home, 
— a ran^ des vaches to the exiled Swiss. An 
infinite love supposes an infinite object. If all 
the forests were pleasure-parks, and all the 
isles were fortunate isles, and all the fields 
were elysian, and all eyes were full of joy, oh ! 
then — But no ; then the Infinite Being must 
have assured us that such felicity would be 
perpetual. But now that so many houses are 
houses of mourning, so many fields are fields 
of battle, so many faces are pale, so many 
eyes are dulled with tears and closed, — when 
things are thus, how can the tomb be the end 
of all ? 

Jean Paul Richter. 



OCTOBER 19. 293 



I would have you without carefulness. — 1 Cor. 
vii. 32. 

Bowed with a burden none can weigh save Thee, 
Strength of my life, on Thee I cast my care ; 

My heart must prove its own infirmity, 
But what shall move me if my God is there. 

Anna L^titia Waring. 

J^O you know the blessing" of rolling all 
your cares on God ? He can bind up 
the broken-hearted, and comfort all who mourn. 
He is ever near, calling us to come to Him, and 
by meekness and holiness of heart find rest 
and peace. 

Maria Hare. 

He stands very insecurely who does not cast 
all his cares upon Thee. 

Thomas a Kempis. 



294 OCTOBER 20. 



For ye have not received the spirit of bondage 
again to fear ; but ye have received the Spirit of 
adoption^ whereby we cry. Abba, Father. — Rom. 
viii. 15. 

O Love. Thy sovereign aid impart, 
To save me from low-thoug'hted care; 

Chase this self-will through all my heart, 
Through all its latent mazes there ; 

Make me Thy duteous child, that I 

Ceaseless may " Abba. Father " cry ! 



HAT we need is the spirit of adoption, 



whereby we cry Abba, Father. Then 
there will be no more fear, — neither fear of 
man, nor fear of God, nor fear of sin, nor fear 
of death, nor fear of what follows death. When 
we are God's children, living in our Father's 
house, reconciled to Him, at peace with Him, 
with His love shed abroad in our hearts, then 
all fear is taken away ; then our work is easy, 



Gerhard Tepsteegen. 




our wav onward. 



Ja.mes Freeman Clarke. 



OCTOBER 21. 295 



In all thy ways acknowledge Hint, and He 
shall direct thy paths. — Prov. iii. 6. 



Being in doubt, I say, 
Lord, make it plain ! 
Which is the truly safe way ? 

Which would be vain ? 
I am not wise to know, 
Nor sure of foot to go ; 

My blind eyes cannot see 
What is so clear to Thee, 
Lord, make it clear to me ! 



E only lose our way when we choose our 



own aim. Whoever seeks God's will 
alone finds it everywhere, whithersoever God's 
providence leads him; and so he never goes 
astray. True resignation, having no selfish 
path, and no aim at self-pleasing, goes always 
straight on as God pleases. 



Anna B. Warner. 




Fenelon. 



296 OCTOBER 22. 



The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon 
Hint) to all that call upon Him in truth, — 
Ps. cxlv. 18. 

The heart's unspoken pain He knows, 

The secret sighs He hears fuli well, 
What to none else thou darest disclose, 

To Him thou mayst with boldness tell ; 
He is not far away, but ever nigh, 
And answereth willingly the poor man's cry. 



HE Lord can prevent trouble, or remove 



trouble ; but what is best of all, He can 
sanctify troubles, making them real blessings, 
and that is what He out of infinite love gen- 
erally chooses to do. 



Paul Gephardt. 




Christian's ^Pocket-book. 



OCTOBER 23. 297 



I?i the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, 
and His children shall have a place of refuge. — 
Prov. xiv. 26. 

Have faith in God ; for He who reigns on high 
Hath borne thy grief, and hears the suppliant's sigh ; 
Still to His arms thy only refuge fly, — 



RUST Him ; trust Him about every one and 



everything, for all times and all needs ; 
earth and heaven, the conquest of sin, the 
growth of holiness, the cross that chafes, the 
grace that stirs. To trust God glorifies and 
honors Him. 



Have faith in God. 



Anna Shipton. 




Thorold. 



298 OCTOBER 24. 



And who is my neighbor} — Luke x. 29. 

0 man, forget not thou, earth's honored priest ! 

Its tongue, its soul, its life, its pulse, its heart, 

In earth's great chorus to sustain thy part ; 
Chiefest of guests at Love's ungrudging feast, 

Play not the niggard, spurn the native clod, 
And self disown ; 

Live to thy neighbor, live unto thy God, 



HAT is meant by our neighbor we cannot 



* v doubt ; it is every one with whom we 
are brought in contact. It is every one who is 
thrown across our path by the changes and 
chances of life; he or she, whosoever it be, 
whom we have any means of helping, — the 
unfortunate stranger whom we may meet in 
travelling, the deserted friend whom no one 
else cares to look after. 



How near must a person live to me to be 
my neighbor ? Every person is near to you 
whom you can bless. He is nearest whom you 
can bless most. 



Not to thyself alone. 



S v.', Fa?7?i:gz, 




Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. 



William Ellery Channing 



OCTOBER 25. 299 



The Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy 
works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand 
unto. — Deut. xv. 10. 

What is our duty here ? To tend 
From good to better, thence to best; 

Grateful to drink life's cup ; then bend 
Unmurmuring to our bed of rest ; 

To pluck the flowers that round us blow, 

Scattering our fragrance as we go. 

Sir J. Bo wring. 

^O make some nook of God's creation a 
little fruitfuHer, better, more worthy of 
God, to make some human hearts a little 
wiser, manfuller, happier, more blessed, less 
accursed, — it is a work for a god. 

Thomas Carlyle. 



300 OCTOBER 26. 



Be kindly affectioned one to another ivith broth- 
erly love. — Rom. xii. 10. 



To bless mankind with tithes of flowing wealth, 

With rank to grace them, or to crown with health, 

Our little lot denies; yet liberal still, 

God gives its counterpoise to every ill ; 

Nor let us murmur at our stinted powers 

When kindness, love, and concord may be ours. 

The gift of minist'ring to others' ease, 

To all her sons impartial Heaven decrees ; 

The gentle offices of patient love, 

Beyond all flattery and all praise above ; 

The mild forbearance at a brother's fault, 

The angry word suppressed, the taunting thought. 



OULD we only endeavor to take God's 



v y view of those among whom we dwell, 
and among whom our daily intercourse lies, 
how gentle, how patient, how earnest in all 
good works and kind offices, how averse from 
everything that could give offence should 
we be. 



Hannah More. 




Andrew P. Peabody. 



OCTOBER 27. 301 



Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which 
leadeth unto life, — Matt. vii. 14. 



This world is but the rugged road 
Which leads us to the bright abode 

Of peace above ; 
So let us choose the narrow way 
Which leads no traveller astray 

From realms of love. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 



J SEE not but that my road to heaven lieth 
through this very valley. 

John Bunyan. 
The denial of self leads to the narrow way. 



302 



OCTOBER 28. 



And their works do follow them, — Rev. xiv. 

Nay, rather act thy part unnamed, unknown, 
And let Fame blow her trumpet through the world 
With noisy wind to swell a fool's renown, 
Joined with some truth he stumbled blindly o'er, 
Or coupled with some single, shining- deed 
That in the great account of all his days 
Will stand alone upon the bankrupt sheet 
His pitying angel shows the clerk of heaven. 
The noblest service comes from nameless hands, 
And the best servant does his work unseen. 

Oliver Wendell Holies, 



T S it only those who are great, or those only 
* who are splendidly good, whose works do 
follow them ? God forbid. Are there not, as 
He Himself has told us, such little things as 
the widow's mite and the cup of cold water 
given for His sake ? There is a greatness in un- 
known names, there is an immortality of quiet 
duties attainable by the meanest of mankind. 

Frederic William Farrar. 



OCTOBER 29. 303 



Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; for 
lam meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find 
rest unto your souls. — Matt. xi. 29, 



I rest by serving at Thy will, 

Thy yoke is easy, and Thy burden light ; 
And peace grows deep and deeper still 

As my obedience proves Thy might. 

I hold my powers alone for Thee, 
Use them in loving errands of Thy grace ; 

And calm me, though I may not see 
Thy methods, as before Thy face. 



^HE rest of Christ is not that of torpor, but 
of harmony ; it is not refusing the strug- 
gle, but conquering in it ; not resting from duty, 
but finding rest in duty. 

Frederick William Robertson. 



304 



OCTOBER ;o, 



Blessed is that man that make fa the Lord his 
trust. — Ps. xl. 4. 

Just to trust and yet to ask 

Take the training or the task 

As Ha sends it* 
Jus; to tike the joy or pain 
As He lends it 

Secre: of His* promised rest. 

Frances Ridley Havepgal. 

TF you go to Him to be guided, He will guide 
* you : but He will not comfort your distrust 
or half -trust of Him by showing' you the chin 
of ill His purposes concerning you. He will 
only show you into a way where, if you go 
cheerfully and trustfully forward, He will show 
you on still farther. No contract will be made 
with you save that He engages, if you trust 
Him. to lead you into the best things all the 



OCTOBER 31. 



305 



Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, 0 
Lord, according unto Thy word. — Ps. cxix. 65. 

Beneath the splendor of Thy choice, 
Thy perfect choice for me. I rest; 

Outside it now I dare not live, 
Within it I must needs be blest. 

Jean Sophia Pigott. 

T WOULD rather be what God chose to make 
me than the most glorious creature that I 
could think of. For to have been thought 
about, — born in God's thoughts, — and then 
made by God, is the dearest, grandest, most 
precious thing in all thinking. 

George Macdonald. 



3o6 



NOVEVBE? :. 



In your patience possess ye your souls. — Luke 
xxi. 19. 

Hold in thy murmurs Heaven arraigning ! 

The patient see God's loving face; 
Who bear their burdens uncomplaining, 

"T is they that win the Father's grace. 

T^HE soul loses command of itself when it 



1 is impatient. Whereas, when it submits 
without a murmur, it possesses itself in peace, 
and possesses God. To be impatient is to de- 
sire what we have not, or not to desire what 
we have. An impatient soul is a prey to pas- 
sions unrestrained by reason or faith. What 
weakness, what delusion ! When we acqui- 
esce in an evil, it is no longer such. Why 
make a real calamity of it by resistance? 
Peace does not dwell in outward things, but 
within the soul. We may preserve it in the 
midst of bitterest pain if our will remains firm 
and submissive. Peace in this life springs from 
acquiescence even in disagreeable things, not in 
an exemption from bearing them. 




Fenelox 



NOVEMBER 2. 307 



Trust in Him at all times. — Ps. lxii. 8. 



I know not what my life shall hold 

Of love or light, 
Only that safe within the fold 

It shall be right ; 
I only seek to find the ways 

His feet have pressed; 
And feel through fair or darker days 

He knoweth best. 



HATEVER our needs, He can supply 



them, for He is God. He will supply 
them, for He is love. Only let us believe, and 
our joy and blessedness shall be full. Let us 
honor God by trusting Him entirely. Let us 
be as willing to receive as He is to bestow. 



M. M. B. 




Thorold. 



308 



NOVEMBER 3. 



Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in 
all wisdom, — Col. iii. 16. 

'T is not the skill of human art 

Which gives me power my God to know ; 
The sacred lessons of the heart 

Come not from instruments below ; 
Love is my teacher. 

Madame Guyon. 

CVERY great teacher or leader lays stress 



on some single word of might, — the key, 
as it were, to his position. Buddha's great 
word was " renunciation ; " Zoroaster's, " pur- 
ity." Menu's was " justice." The key to 
Confucius is " moderation." Moses empha- 
sized " law ; " Plato, " harmony ; " Socrates, 
" reason." The strong word of Epictetus was 
" reliance ; " of Antoninus, " self-possession." 
But Jesus gives us the key to the inner cham- 
ber of His heart in a single, mighty, sweet 
word, — "love." 




O. B. Frothingham. 



NOVEMBER 4. 309 



His secret is with the righteous. — Prov. iiL 32. 



Ah ! if our souls but poise and swing 
Like the compass in its brazen ring*, 
Ever level and ever true, 
To the toil and the task we have to do, 
We shall sail securely and safely reach 
The Fortunate Isles. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 



'THE desire to do right, the will to do right 
are not of ourselves, but of the Lord. 
He stands ready to give all these in their ful- 
ness to all who will receive them. 

Theodore Parsons. 



3io NOVEMBER 5. 



As he think eth in his heart, so is he* — Prov. 
xxiii. 7. 

Calm soul of all things ! make it mine 

To feel amid the city's jar, 
That there abides a peace of Thine 

Man did not make, and cannot mar ; 
The will to neither strive nor cry, 

The power to feel with others, give. 
Calm, calm me more: nor let me die 

Before I have begun to live. 

Matthew Arnold. 

/WIEN seek retreats, houses in the country, 
* ; * seashores and mountains ; and thou too 
art wont to desire such things very much. But 
this is altogether a mark of the most common 
sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever 
thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For 
nowhere either with more quiet or more free- 
dom from trouble does a man retire than into 
his own soul, particularly when he has within 
him such thoughts that by looking into them 
he is immediately in perfect tranquillity. 

Marcus Aurelius. 



NOVEMBER 6. 311 



The Lord is my shepherd ; therefore can I 
lack nothing. — Psalter. 

SO whether on the hill-tops high and fair 
I dwell, or in the sunless valleys where 
The shadows lie, What matter ? He is there. 

And more than this : where'er the pathway lead, 
He gives to me no helpless, broken reed, 
But His own hand, sufficient for my need. 

So where He leads me I can safely go, 
And in the blest hereafter I shall know 
Why in His wisdom He hath led me so. 

Henry H. Barry. 

TTE is a strict but tender Master; and on 
the way which He leads us are not 
only crosses and thorns, but light, and love, 
and sympathy, and peace, and at the end — 
heaven. 

M. K. Vincent. 



312 



NOVEMBER 7. 



See the?i that ye walk circumspectly. — Eph. 



'T IS not for us to trifle ! Life is brief, 

And sin is here. 
Our age is but the falling of a leaf, 

A dropping tear. 
We have no time to sport away the hours ; 
All should be earnest in a world like ours. 

Not many lives, but only one have we, — 

Our only one; 
How sacred should that one life ever be ? — 

That narrow span : 
Day after day filled up with blessed toil, 
Hour after hour still bringing in new spoil. 



E have only once to live ; therefore let us 



v v live to some purpose. The day that 
dawned this morning will never dawn again. 
The opportunities which it brought with it will 
never come again ; and if we fail to fill it with 
the service it requires of us, there will be no 
possibility of returning into it to repair the 
mischief. The wheels of Time's chariot have 
rachets to them, and they move only forward. 



v. 15. 



HORATIUS BONAR. 




William M. Taylor. 



NOVEMBER 8. 



313 



O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom 
and knowledge of God I how unsearchable are 
His judgme?tts, and His ways past finding 
out. — Rom. xi. 33. 

Sayst thou, I know not how or where, 

No help I see where 'er I turn ; 
When of all else we most despair, 
The riches of God's love we learn ; 
When Thou and I His hand no longer trace, 
He leads us forth into a pleasant place. 

Paul Gerhardt. 

^^E never know through what divine mys- 
teries of compensation the great Father 
of the universe may be carrying out His sub- 
lime plans ; but those three words, " God is 
love," ought to contain, to every doubting 
heart, the solution of all things. 



314 NOVEMBER 9. 



Changed into the same image from glory to 
glory. — 2 Cor. iii. 18. 

As one lamp lights another, nor grows less, 
So nobleness enkindleth nobleness. 

James Russell Lowell. 

JN a very simple and literal way he believed 
that God was his Father, not in name 
only, but in very truth. He knew that he, in 
common with every human being, had it in 
his power to live as a son or as an alien ; and 
he knew — by that most sure proof, the expe- 
rience of daily life — that he could only over- 
come the cravings of selfishness by a constant 
effort to come into closer union with the life- 
giving spirit to whom he was truly akin, that 
so he might not starve, but grow and develop. 

Knight-Errant. 



NOVEMBER 10. 



315 



Choose you this day whom ye will serve. — 
Joshua xxiv. 15. 

But heard are the voices, — 

" Choose well, your choice is 
Brief, and yet endless; 
Here eyes do regard you 
In eternity's stillness; 
Here is all fulness, 
Ye brave, to reward you ; 
Work, and despair not." 

J oh ann Wolfgang von Goethe. 

VOU must choose whom you will serve. 



You cannot serve God and mammon ; 
you cannot be a friend of Christ and a friend 
of the world at the same time. The way is 
narrow and rough, and there is no use saying 
it is not; but depend upon it, there can be 
no saving religion without sacrifice and self- 
denial, 




Kyle. 



3i6 NOVEMBER 11. 



Every man shall receive his own reward ac- 
cording to his own labor. — i Cor. iii. 8. 

Our Father 
Will no gentle deed disdain ; 
Love, on the cold earth beginning, 
Lives divine in heaven again ; 
While the angel hearts that beat there 
Still all tender thoughts retain. 

Adelaide Anne Procter. 



IT OW shall we enter when for us the golden 
gates roll back ? Shall we go home as 
children whose home-coming is not only wel- 
comed and watched for by the heart of Heav- 
enly Fatherhood and the heart of Heavenly 
Brotherhood, but by many and many a one 
to whom we have given a smile or a word 
of love for Christ's sake > 

Rose Porter, 



NOVEMBER 12. 317 



Except ye . . . become as little children, ye 
shall 710 1 enter into the kingdom of heaven. — 
Matt, xviii. 3. 

Except your Father lead you, 

You cannot find the way 
Among- the snares and pitfalls, 

The lures that lead astray ; 
Except you be like children, 

And hold the skirts of love, 
You '11 miss the narrow pathway 

That leads from earth above. 

Mary Frances Butts. 

gLESSED are ye if ye become as a little 
child, for a child is the visible likeness 
of the Lord Himself. And there is blessedness 
in perceiving this truth ; the blessing is the 
truth itself. He who sees the essential in the 
child — the pure childhood — sees the essence 
of grace and truth; in a word, real child- 
likeness. 

George Macdonald. 



318 NOVEMBER 13. 



Perfect love casteth out fear. — 1 John iv. 18. 



Ah 5 soul ! look upwards trusting, kiss the rod. 
And know there is no might have been with God. 
From Him, whenever lowly we draw near, 
We learn of love that casteth out all fear ; 
We find a faith that in oblivion's sea, 
Whelms every dread and doubt eternally. 

ro love our neighbor is a great help to that 



perfect love of God which casteth out all 
fear. Nothing but the love of God will make 
you love your neighbors aright ; and the Spirit 
of God, which alone gives weight for any 
good, will by these loves — which are life — 
strengthen you at last to believe in the light, 
even in the midst of darkness. 




George Macdonald. 



NOVEMBER 14. 319 



Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the 
evidence of things not seen, — Heb. xi. 1. 

Strong Son of God, immortal Love, 
Whom we that have not seen Thy face, 
By faith and faith alone, embrace, 

Believing- where we cannot prove. 

We have but faith ; we cannot know, 
For knowledge is of things we see ; 
And yet we trust it comes from Thee, 

A beam in darkness : let it grow. 

Alfred Tennyson. 

^HTHOUT faith a man's future is dark and 
gloomy. The man of true faith never 
despairs. Faith is, as it were, the eye through 
which he sees the all -merciful Providence tak- 
ing care of the least and the most insignificant 
of His creatures. And hence, in the midst of 
the severest trials, the believer in God does not 
lose his heart. 

The Bidhanbadi. 



320 



NOVEMBER 15. 



They shall mount up with wings. — Isa. xl. 31. 

Let us be like the bird for a moment perched 

On a frail branch while he sings ; 
Though he feels it bend, yet he sing's his song". 

For he knows that he has wing's. 



HE soul is free. It has wings in the joy of 



pure emotion, in the upspringing might 
of faith, in the ardor of heavenly aspiration, 
in the swift flight of love, in the liberty of ex- 
ultant hope. Love is always winged. If you 
would conquer your besetments, rise to a more 
gracious benevolence, enjoy a livelier con- 
sciousness of eternal things, and have your 
Christian duties delightful ; get the ardent, un- 
selfish, consecrated heart of love through the 
grace of the Holy Spirit. 



Victor Hugo. 




Horatio N. Powers. 



NOVEMBER 16. 321 



If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, 
and His love is perfected in us. — 1 John iv. 12. 

" More blessed 't is to give than to receive : " 
No more, — no mystic dogma to believe, 
Only a thread in each day's life to weave ; 

Only a common duty, in such wise 
Transfigured by new light, that straight my eyes 
Saw how above all truth true loving lies ; 

Saw that, forgetful of my own soul's need, 

Filling my life with gracious thought and deed, 

I might leave time — and God — to shape my creed. 

LittelVs Living Age. 

'"pHEY ask me for secrets of salvation. For 
myself I know no secrets but this, — to 
love God with all our hearts and our neigh- 
bor as ourselves. 

Saint Francis de Sales. 



21 



322 NOVEMBER 17. 



See that ye love o?ie another with a pure heart 
fervently, — i Pet. i. 22. 



Go cleanse thy heart, and fill 
Thy soul with love and goodness. 
This is thy task on earth ; 
This is thy eager manhood's proudest goal, 
To cast all meanness and world-worship forth, 
And thus exalt thy soul. 



E are here to educate our own hearts by 



v y deeds of love, and to be the instru- 
ments of blessing to our brother men. There 
are two ways in which this is to be done, — 
by guarding them from danger, and by sooth- 
ing them in their rough path by kindly sym- 
pathies ; the two things which the Apostles 
were asked to do for Christ. And it is an 
encouraging thought, that he who cannot do 
the one has at least the other in his power. If 
he cannot protect, he can sympathize. Let the 
weakest, the humblest, remember that in his 
daily course he can shed around him almost a 
heaven. Kindly words, sympathizing atten- 
tions, watchfulness against wounding men's 
sensitiveness, — these cost very little, but they 
are priceless in their value. 



Robert Nicoll. 




Frederick W. Robertson. 



NOVEMBER 18. 323 



The Lord bless thee, and keep thee ; the Lord 
make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious 
unto thee. — Num. vi. 24, 25. 

In having all things, and not Thee, what have I ? 

Not having Thee, what have my labors got ? 
Let me enjoy but Thee, what further crave I ? 

And having Thee alone, what have I not ? 
I wish nor sea, nor land; nor would I be 
Possessed of heaven, heaven unpossessed of Thee. 
% Francis Quarles. 



HERE is no holiness if the Lord withdraw 



His presence ; no wisdom if His Spirit 
ceases to direct. In our own nature we are as 
unsettled as the sand upon the mountain ; but 
in God we have the stability of the throne in 
heaven. Kindle, O Lord, our hearts with light 
and life by the holy fire of Thy love and 
blessing. 




Thomas a Kempis, 



3^4 



NOVEMBER 19. 



And the Lord make yon to increase and 
abound in love one toward another, and toward 
all men. — i Thess. iii. 12. 

If any little word of mine 

May make a life the brighter, 
If any little song- of mine 

May make a heart the lighter, 
God help me speak the little word, 

And take my bit of singing', 
And drop it in some lonely vale 

To set the echoes ringing. 9 

If any little love of mine 

May make a life the sweeter, 
If any little care of mine 

May make a friend's the fleeter, 
If any lift of mine may ease 

The burden of another, 
God give me love and care and strength 

To help my toiling brother. 



OD divided man into men that they might 




help each other. 



Seneca. 



NOVEMBER 20. 325 



Seekest thou great things ? Seek them not. — 
Jer. xlv. 5. 

Daily struggling-, though unloved and lonely, 

Every day a rich reward will give; 
Thou wilt find by hearty striving only, 

And truly loving, thou canst truly live. 

Harriet Winslow. 

WE need not go through the days of our 
life seeking our work. God places it 
within our hands. And yet how often do we 
make the mistake of asking for a life which 
shall, in its form and outward course, be more 
spiritual and divine than that which we are 
obliged to live. Million occasions will come 
in the ordinary paths of life, in your houses 
and by your firesides, wherein you may act 
as nobly as if all your lives you visited beds of 
sickness and pain, — occasions varying every 
hour, in which you may restrain your pas- 
sions, subdue your hearts to gentleness and 
patience, resign your own interests for anoth- 
er's advantage, speak words of kindness and 
wisdom, raise the fallen, cheer the fainting in 
spirit, and soften and assuage the bitterness 
and weariness of the mortal lot. These acts 
are written in the secret book of the great 
account. 



326 NOVEMBER 21. 



The Lord's hand is not shortened, that it can- 
not save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot 
hear. — Isa. lix. i. 

Sin of courage hath bereft me, 

And hath left me 
Scarce a spark of faith and hope ; 
Bitter tears my heart oft sheddeth, 

As it dreadeth 
I am past Thy mercy's scope. 

Peace I cannot find. Oh, take me, 

Lord, and make me 
From this yoke of evil free ; 
Calm this longing never sleeping, 

Still my weeping, 
Give me hope once more in Thee. 

Gerhard Tersteegen. 

IT OW blessed it is to know the character of 
* * Him with whom we have to do; piti- 
ful, tender, full of compassion, keeping mercy, 
plenteous in redemption. We have no idea 
of His longing to bless; with Him all must 
be loving, because He is love. 

Lady Powerscourt. 



NOVEMBER 22. 327 



In righteousness shalt thou be established, — 
Isa. liv. 14. 



To conquer love of self and lust of life, 
To tear deep-rooted passion from the breast, 
To still the inward strife ; 
For love to clasp eternal beauty close ; 
For glory to be lord of self ; for pleasure 
To live beyond the gods ; for countless wealth 
To lay up lasting treasure 
Of perfect service rendered, duties done 
In charity, soft speech and stainless days : 
These riches shall not fade away with life, 
Nor any death dispraise. 



S whole acres of Persian roses are required 



to make a single ounce of pure attar, so 
the soul's balm is the slow product of a long- 
course of right living and thinking, every sepa- 
rate act and thought of which contributes its 
own minute but precious particle of sweetness 
to the rich result. 



This is peace, — 



Edwin Arnold. 




328 NOVEMBER 23. 



Whosoever will be great among you, shall be 
your minister ; and whosoever of you will be the 
chief est, shall be serva?it of all. For even the 
Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but 
to ?ninister. — Mark x. 43-45. 

What time we nurse our discontent 
Rather instead should we recall 

How once in servant's guise He went, 
Who was the Master of us all ; 

Nor any work, whereby was wrought 

The Father's will, too irksome thought. 

Need any be disquieted, 
Whose heart this memory inclose ? 

Who follows where the Lord hath led, 
What matter is it where he goes ; 

For working with Him, side by side, 

The meanest task is glorified. 



E cannot be too little to be like Him, nor 
so great as to work outside of Him. 

Adeline D. T. Whitney. 



Mary Bradley. 




NOVEMBER 24. 329 



Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal 
life ? — Luke x. 25. 

I do not ask that Thou wilt bless 
With gifts of heavenly sort my day, 

So much as that my hands may dress 
The borders of my lowly way 

With constant deeds of good and right, 

Thereby reflecting heavenly light. 

Alice Cary. 

i^OOD deeds will shine as the stars in 
heaven. 

Thomas Chalmers. 

Good deeds are very fruitful ; out of one 
good action of ours the Lord produces a thou- 
sand, the harvest whereof is perpetual. 

Bishop Hall 



330 NOVEMBER 25. 



The wind was contrary. — Matt. xiv. 24. 



Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot 
Of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer 
Right onward. 



ET us hold on, no matter what we are 



required to contend against ; and let us 
rest assured that at length Christ will come to 
us with such strengthening influences that we 
shall rise to something nobler than without our 
struggles we could ever have attained. Let 
us then toil on. It is but a little while at 
the longest, and no contrary wind can last 
forever. 



Yet I argue not 



John Milton. 




William M. Taylor. 



NOVEMBER 26. 331 



Though He be not far from every one of us. — 
Acts xvii. 27. 

He hides Himself within the love 

Of those that we love best ; 
The smiles and tones that make our homes, 

Are shrines by Him possessed. 

William Channing Gannett. 

COR eternal life, the ideal state, is not some- 
thing future and distant. Paradise is here 
visible and tangible by mortal eyes and hands 
whenever self is lost in loving, whenever the 
narrow limits of personality are beaten down 
by the inrush of the Divine Spirit. 

Mrs. Humphrey Ward. 



332 NOVEMBER 27. 



Blessed are they that keep my ways. — Prov. 
viii. 32. 

And oh ! in my exceeding weakness, 
Make Thy strength perfect ; Thou art strong ; 

Aid me to do Thy will with meekness, 
Thou, to whom all my powers belong. 

TF thou wilt but go on with thy duties, de- 
siring to love, — in such cases the desire of 
loving is love in His sight, — the irksome dull- 
ness and dryness is the thorn in thy flesh, the 
messenger of Satan to buffet thee. But fear 
not; God's grace is sufficient for thee; His 
strength will be made perfect in thy weakness. 
Only set yourself in earnest to obey His voice. 
Say to Him, night and day, " Behold the ser- 
vant of the Lord ! be it unto me according to 
Thy word." 

John Keble. 



NOVEMBER 28. 333 



Then shall we know, if we follow on to know 
the Lord. — Hosea vi. 3. 

The task Thy wisdom hath assigned, 

Oh, let me cheerfully fulfil ! 
In all my works Thy presence find, 

And prove Thy acceptable will. 

Charles Wesley. 

T ET us remember that we are here each day 



to do each day's duty with our whole 
mind, heart, soul, and strength. Let us live 
in the whole, not in the half. Then, when we 
go inward to reflect, we put ourselves wholly 
in that, and find God's love and truth within 
the soul; and when we go outward to work 
or to social intercourse, we put ourselves wholly 
in that, and find God's presence and inspira- 
tion also there. So the inward world and the 
outward world may be equally filled and ani- 
mated with the presence and the smile of our 
Heavenly Father. 




James Freeman Clarke. 



334 



NOVEMBER 29. 



Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due 
season we shall reap, if we faint not. — Gal. 
vi. 9. 

He liveth long who liveth well, 

All else is life but flung away, 
He livest longest who can tell 

Of true things truly done each day. 

Then fill each day with what will last, 
Buy up the moments as they go ; 

The life above when this is past, 
Is the ripe fruit of life below. 

HORATIUS BONAR. 



T T is the care of the wise and good man to 
look to his manners and actions, and rather 
to how well he lives than to how long ; for 
whether he shall die sooner or later is not 
his business, but whether he shall die ill or 
well. 

Seneca. 



NOVEMBER 30. 335 



He that hath a pure heart . . . shall receive 
the blessing from the Lord, — Ps. xxiv. 4, 5. 

0 God ! the pure alone, — 

E'en in their deep confessing, — 
Can see Thee as their own, 

And find the perfect blessing ; 
Yet to each waiting soul 

Speak in Thy still, small voice, 
Till broken love 's made whole, 

And saddened hearts rejoice. 

IT OW does Jesus make men pure ? He made 
* * himself one with our human nature that 
He might heal and bless it through its contact 
with His divinity. He folded it around His 
eternal presence. He made it His own. He 
made it a power which could quicken and re- 
store us ; and then by the gift of His Spirit 
He bound us to it, He robed us in it; and 
henceforth Christian humanity became con- 
scious of a Presence before which the unclean 
spirit cannot but shrink away. 

Canon Liddon, 



336 



DECEMBER 1. 



Lo y lam with you alway. — Matt, xxviii, 20. 

The day is long and the day is hard, 

We are tired of the march and of keeping guard. 

Tired of the sense of a fight to be won, 

Of days to live through and work to be done, 

Tired of ourselves and of being alone. 

And all the while did we only see, 
We walk in the dear Lord's company; 
We fight, but 't is He who nerves our arm, 
He turns the arrows which else might harm, 
And out of the storm He brings a calm. 



ID you not know me, my child ? You 



^ have thought the thoughts that I in- 
spired ; you have spoken my words ; you set 
forth to fight on my side in the battle against 
evil ; and yet you forgot me, and have often 
gone near to deny me while I was standing by 
your side, and giving you the strength to speak 
and think a love which you took to be your 
own. Look at me now, and see if I am not 
better than the images that have hid me from 
you. 



SVSaN Ccoldge, 




Annie Keary. 



DECEMBER 2. 337 



Even so, Father ; for so it seemed good in Thy 
sight. — Matt. xi. 26. 

For naught can come as naught hath been, 
But what my Father hath foreseen, 

And what shall work my good ; 
Whate'er He gives me I will take, 
What e'er He chooses I will make 

My choice with thankful mood. 

Paul Flemming. 

TF God gives us much, we are bound to be 
thankful and use it for Him. If He gives 
us but little, we are bound to be content and 
cheerfully to enjoy Him in it. 

Matthew Henry. 



22 



338 DECEMBER 3. 



One that hath a pleasant voice. — Ezek. 
xxxiii. 32. 



HERE is no one thing that love so much 



needs as a sweet voice to tell what it 
means and feels. One must start in youth, 
and be on watch night and day, at work and 
play, to get and keep a voice that shall speak 
at all times the thoughts of a kind heart. It is 
often in youth that one gets a voice or a tone 
that is sharp, and it sticks to him through life, 
and stirs up ill-will and grief, and falls like a 
drop of gall on the sweet joys of home. Watch 
it day by day as a pearl of great price, for it 
will be worth more to you than the best pear! 
hid in the sea. A kind voice is to the heart 
what light is to the eye ; it is a light that sings 
as well as shines. 



Her voice was ever soft, 



Gentle, and low. 



Shakespeare. 




Elihu Burritt. 



DECEMBER 4. 



339 



Serving the Lord with all humility. — Acts 
xx. 19. 

The bird that soars on highest wing 
Builds on the ground her lowly nest ; 

And she that doth most sweetly sing, 
Sings in the shade when all things rest ; 

In lark and nightingale we see 

What honor hath humility. 

James Montgomery. 

/~\NLY he who puts on the garment of 
humility finds how worthily he clothes 
his life. 

Phillips Brooks. 

The Saviour bids us be meek and lowly in 
heart ; and this meekness is a casting down of 
all confidence in self, that from God alone 
help may be derived. 

Fenelon. 



340 DECEMBER 5. 



In nothing be anxious ; but in everything, by 
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let 
your requests be made knowii unto God. — 
Phil. iv. 6 (R. V.). 

Why therefore should we do ourselves this wrong, 
Or others, — that we are not always strong; 
That we are ever overborne with care ; 
That we should ever weak or heartless be, 
Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer, 
And joy and strength and courage are with Thee. 

Richard Chenevix Trench. 

" TN everything," says Saint Paul, "let your 
requests be made known unto God." 
For this everything, nothing is too small. That 
it should trouble us is enough. There is some 
principle involved in it, worth the notice even 
of God Himself ; for did He not make us so 
that the thing does trouble us ? And surely 
for this everything nothing can be too great. 

George Macdonald. 



DECEMBER 6. 341 



Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. — 
Col. iii. 15. 

We ask Thy peace, 0 Lord ! 

Through storm and fear and strife, 
To light and guide us on 

Through a long, struggling life. 

Adelaide Anne Procter. 

\lf OULD you know the peace of God, real- 
ize that you are a part of that Infinite 
Majesty. Strive to catch now and then a note 
of the heavenly melody, chant a stray chord 
of the infinite harmony ; remember that every- 
thing beautiful springs from a beauty that 
is behind it, every strong will rises from a 
strength underneath, and all your loves are fed 
from the fountain of infinite love. 

Jenkin Lloyd Jones. 



342 



DECEMBER 7. 



The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, — Gal. v. 

22. 

Peace is more strong than war, and gentleness, 
Where force were vain, makes conquest o'er the 
wave ; 

And love lives on and hath a power to bless, 
When they who loved are hidden in the grave. 

James Russell Lowell. 



ENTLENESS diffuses a blessed calm over 



^ the nature. Love is the atmosphere of 
heaven. Long-suffering and meekness coun- 
teract all those distresses — and they are in- 
numerable—which arise from pride, anger, 
and revenge. Peace is but the scriptural name 
for the entire result of combined and blessed 
satisfaction in the heart. 




J. W. Alexander. 



DECEMBER 8. 343 



But without faith it is impossible to please 
Him ; for he that cometh to God must believe 
that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them 
that diligently seek Him. — Heb. xi. 6. 



Learn thou the beauty of omniscient care ; 
Be strong in faith, bid anxious thoughts lie still ; 
Seek for the good and cherish it ; the ill 
Oppose, or bear with a submissive will. 



O me, I confess, it seems a very considera- 



1 ble thing just to believe in God ; difficult 
indeed to avoid honestly, but not easy to ac- 
complish worthily, and impossible to compass 
to perfection; a thing not lightly to be pro- 
fessed, but rather humbly sought; not to be 
found at the end of any syllogism, but in the 
inmost fountains of purity and affection ; not 
the sudden gift of intellect, but to be earned 
by a loving and brave life. It is, indeed, the 
greatest thing allowed to mankind, the germ 
of every lesser greatness. 



But turn, my soul, 



William Wordsworth. 




Anne Gilchrist. 



344 DECEMBER 9. 



Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and 
my God ; for unto Thee will I pray, — Ps. v. 2. 

Lord ! who art merciful as well as just, 
Incline Thine ear to me, a child of dust. 
Not what I would, 0 Lord, I offer Thee, 
Alas ! but what I am. 
Father Almighty, who hast made me man, 
And bade me look to heaven, for Thou art there, 

Accept my sacrifice and humble prayer. 
Four things which are not in Thy treasury 
I lay before Thee, Lord, with this petition, — 
My nothingness, my wants, 
My sins, and my contrition. 



HE man who can pray truly is richer and 
more blessed than all others. 

Chrysostom. 



Robert Southey, 




DECEMBER 10. 345 



The eternal God is thy refuge, and under- 
neath are the everlasting arms. — Deut. xxxiii. 



What though the way be rough and steep ? 

What though we stumble as the blind ? 
There 's joy reserved for those who weep, 

The everlasting arms are kind. 

What matters it if sorrows come ? 

What though the night be dark and long ? 
The darkest cloud but hides the sun ; 

The everlasting arms are strong. 



NE great purpose in all affliction is to bring 



V* us down to the " everlasting arms." 
What new strength and peace it gives us to 
feel them underneath us ! We know that, far 
as we may have sunk, we cannot go any 
farther. Those mighty arms can not only 
hold us, they can lift us up. They can carry 
us along. Faith, in its essence, is simply a 
resting on the everlasting arms. 



27. 




Theodore L. Cuyler. 



346 DECEMBER 11. 



I will teach you the good and the right way. — 
i Sam. xii. 23. 

Live to do good ; but not with thought to win 
From man return of any kindness done. 

Do naught but good ; for such the noble strife 
Of virtue is, 'gainst wrong to venture love, 

And for thy foe devote a brother's life, 
Content to wait the recompense above. 

Brave for the truth, to fiercest insults meek, 

In mercy strong, in vengeance only weak. 

G. W. Bethune 0 

IT E began to talk very gently about different 
sorts of kindness, and that if I wished to 
be kind like a Christian, I must be kind with- 
out hoping for any reward, whether gratitude 
or anything else. He told me that the best 
followers of Jesus in all times had tried hard 
to do everything, however small, for God's 
sake, and to put themselves away. 

Juliana Horatia Ewing. 



DECEMBER 12. 347 



For we walk by faith, not by sight. — 2 Cor. 
v. 7. 

Thy God hath said 't is good for thee 
To walk by faith, and not by sight ; 

Take it on trust a little while; 
Soon shall thou read the mystery right 

In the full sunshine of His smile. 



S the arm grows strong only by work, as 



the memory increases only when made 
to carry weights, as the eye can see only in the 
light, so faith has a chance to develop only in 
darkness and trial. There is no room for faith 
in the daylight ; anybody can trust then. Do 
not even the atheists so ? But he who on the 
darkness of the tempest-tossed waters can trust 
Him who stilleth the storm, — he, and he only, 
can claim to walk by faith. 



John Keble. 




M. J. Savage. 



348 DECEMBER 13. 



Let thine heart keep my commandments. — 
Prov. iii. 1. 

Rabbi Jehosha had the skill 
To know that heaven is in God's will ; 
And doing that, though for a space 
One heart-beat long, may win a grace 
As full of grandeur and of glow 
As princes of the chariot know. 



OD would have us live; if we live we 



cannot but know, while all the knowl- 
edge in the universe cannot make us live. 
Obedience is the road to all things. It is the 
only way to grow able to trust Him. Love 
and faith and obedience are sides of the same 
prism. 



James Russell Lowell 




George Macdonald. 



DECEMBER 14. 349 



Take therefore no thought for the morrow. — 
Matt. vi. 34. 

I think not of to-morrow, 

Its trial or its task ; 
But still with childlike spirit 

For present mercies ask. 
With each returning morning 

I cast old things away ; 
Life's journey lies before me, — 

My prayer is for to-day. 

T ET us take short views. Let us not cl'mb 



the high wall till we get to it, or fight 
the battle till it opens, or shed tears over sor- 
rows that may never come, or lose the joys 
and blessings that we have by the sinful fear 
that God will take them away from us. We 
need all our strength, and all the grace God 
can give us for to-day's burdens and to-day's 
battle. To-morrow belongs to our Heavenly 




Father. 



Theodore L. Cuyler. 



350 



DECEMBER 15. 



All things whatsoever ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so to them. — 
Matt. vii. 12. 

And each shall care for other, 
And each to each shall bend, 

To the poor a noble brother, 
To the good an equal friend. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

No curse has fallen on us till we cease 
To help each other. 

George Eliot. 

^pRY to do to others as you would have them 
do to you,, and do not be discouraged if 
they fail sometimes. It is much better that 
they should fail in obeying the greatest rule 
laid down by our Saviour than that you should. 

Charles Dickens (Letter to his son). 



DECEMBER 16. 351 



I will guide thee with mine eye. — Ps. xxxii. 8. 

Of His high attributes beyond the most, 

I thank my God for that omniscient eye, 

Beneath whose blaze no secret thing can lie, 

In His infinitude of being, lost. 

I bless my God I am not wrecked and tossed 

Upon a sea of doubt, with power to fly 

And hide, somewhither in immensity, 

One single sin out of His reckoning crossed. 

For even there — self-conscious of its thrall — 

Might spring the terror, — " If He knew the whole, 

And tracked the skulking guilt out of its goal, 

He could not pardon ! " But, or great, or small, 

He knows the inmost foldings of my soul, 

And knowing utterly, forgives me all ! 

Margaret J. Preston. 

TJ IS eye is upon our ways, upon our souls ; 
* * and we may look into that eye. We 
know, or may know, on what that eye rests 
with pleasure, on what it rests with pity, on 
what it rests with condemnation ; and we can, 
if we will, always do the things that please 
Him ; and can make His good pleasure our con- 
stant motive, our rule of duty, our reason of 
doing and not doing. We can shape ourselves 
under the eye of God as He would have us. 

Andrew P. Peabody. 



352 



DECEMBER 17. 



For we have great joy and consolation in thy 
love. — Philemon i. 7. 

Thou in adversity canst be a sun ; 

Thou art a healing' balm, a sheltering" tower ; 
The peace, the truth, the life, the love of One, 

Nor wound, nor grief, nor storm can overpower ; 
Gifts of a king - , gifts frequent and yet free ; 
There 's none like Thee, 0 Lord, none, none like Thee, 



IKE the sunlight which fills the air all 



around us, and enters wherever there is 
an opening, so does the presence of God fill 
the whole universe, and enters every heart that 
opens to receive Him. 



Maria J. Jewsbury. 




H. W. Smith. 



DECEMBER 18. 353 



/ am not alone, because the Father is with 
me. — Johx xvi. 32. 

What though we fall, and bruised and wounded lie, 

Our lips in dust ? 
God's arm shall lift us up to victory, 

In Him we trust. 

For neither life, nor death, nor things below, 

Nor things above, 
Shall ever sever us that we should go 

From His great love. 

Frances Power Cobbe. 

T^HERE is no father, no brother so pitiful 



1 and compassionate as He who calls you 
His child. Whatever else may fail, be sure 
that His everlasting love will not fail. He 
is with you in your struggle against sins, in 
your search for truth, your woes and griefs 
and loneliness and trials. All your hope, all 
your patience, all your regard for what is ex- 
cellent and imperishable, come from Him. And 
as He has given you your capacity for His 
friendship and His likeness, He will train you 
and guide you to Himself if you are submis- 




sive and obedient. 



Horatio N. Powers. 



354 DECEMBER 19. 



Lead us not into temptation, — Matt. vi. 13. 



Ah ! He who prayed the prayer of all mankind 
Summed in those few, brief words the mightiest plea 
For erring souls before the courts of heaven, — 
Save us from being tempted — lest we fall. 



HE petition of Lead us not into temptation 



is the prayer of Christian humility, con- 
scious of its own weakness. If this prayer is 
truly offered, it may supersede the necessity of 
temptation. If we are already conscious of our 
weakness, we may not need the trial which is 
sent to show us our weakness. 



Oliver Wendell Holmes. 




James Freeman Clarke. 



DECEMBER 20. 



355 



Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it 
are the issues of life. — Prov. iv. 23, 

0 heart, be true ! 
True to thyself and to thy God, 
Though all around thy path may change ; 
Though oft the road that thou hast trod, 
To those that hear no guiding word, 

Seems hard and strange. 
Whatever else the whole wide world may do, — 

Be true, my heart, be true ! 



HE best thing we can do, infinitely the 



best, — indeed, the only thing, that men 
may receive the truth, — is to be ourselves 
true. Beyond all doing of good is the being 
good ; for he that is good, not only does good 
things, but all that he does is good. 




George Macdonald. 



decembep 2: 



And ye shzll seek me, and find me, when ye 
shall search for me with all your heart. — Jer. 
xxix. 13. 

We think what joy it would have been to share 
la their high privilege, who came to bear 
5~. ee: sr::e :s.t cist'.v ^em 



And in • 
Is "."her 



ibounding grace. 

Fh: 



T 



HANK God. the Chrisrii:;::' 



G: 



- 1-4- 



7.'he:e Chris: is. Who 
fed the hungry, clothed 



Chris: 



or Go, 



DECEMBER 22. 35 7 



A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is 
born for adversity. — Pro v. xvii. i J. 

Yet of the brother, who along our way, 
Prone with his burden, heart-worn in the strife, 
Totters before us, — how we search his life, 
Censure and sternly punish while we may. 
Oh, weary are the paths of earth and hard ! 
And living- hearts alone are ours to guard: 
At least begrudge not to the sore distraught 
The reverent silence of our pitying thought. 
Life, too, is sacred ; and he best forgives, 
Who says. ■• He errs." but tenderly " he lives." 



O not keep the alabaster boxes of your 



love and tenderness sealed up till after 
your friends are dead. Fill their lives with 
sweetness. Speak kind, approving', cheering 
words while their ears can hear them, and 
while their hearts can be thrilled by them. 
The things you mean to say after they are 
gone, say before the}' go. 



Mary Mapes Dodge. 




55? 



DECEMBER 23. 



To him that overcometh will I grant to sit 
with me in my throne. — Rev. iii. 21. 

Heaven is not reached by a single bound ; 
But we build the ladder by which we rise 
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 

And we mount to its summit round by round. 

We rise by the things that are under our feet, 
By what we have mastered in greed and gain, 
By the pride deposed and the passion slain, 

And the vanquished ill we hourly meet. 



UR appointed life- way is an ascending; path 



^ upward, if we would have it onward. 
There are obstacles on it, mercifully placed 
there to train and exercise our best powers of 
mind and heart ; none of them insurmount- 
able, though some of them are steep and rough 
in the climbing. It is for us to choose whether 
we will stumble on them, crawl round them, 
or surmount them ; and our destiny is contin- 
gent on our choice. 



John G. Holland. 




Andrew P. Peabody. 



DECEMBER 24. 



359 



And the Lord make you to increase and abound 
in love one toward another, and toward ail 
men. — i Thess. iii. 12. 

Learn that to love is the one way to know 
Or God or man ; it is not love received 
That maketh man to know the inner life 
Of them that love him ; his own love bestov/ed 
Shall do it. 

Jean Ingelow. 

VXfHERE love is, God is ! He that dwelleth 
v * in love dwelleth in God. God is love. 
Therefore love. Without distinction, without 
calculation, without procrastination, love. Lav- 
ish it upon the poor, where it is easy ; especially 
upon the rich, who often need it most ; most 
of all upon our equals, where it is very difficult, 
and for whom, perhaps, we each do least of 
all. There is a difference between trying to 
please and giving pleasure. Lose no chance of 
giving pleasure, for that is the ceaseless and 
anonymous triumph of a truly loving spirit. 

Henry Drummond. 



363 



DECEMBER 25. 



And the angel said unto them. Fear not ; for, 
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, 
which shall be to all people. For unto you is 
born this day in the city of David a Saviour, 
which is Christ the Lord. — Luke ii. 10, ii. 

And clear to-day as long- ago, 

The angel chorus echoes still, 
Above the clamor and the throe 
Of human passion, human woe : 

" Good-will and peace, peace and good-will." 

Through eighteen hundred stormy years, 
The dear notes ring and will not cease; 

And past all mists of mortal tears, 

The guiding star rebukes our fears ; 

" Peace and good-will, good-will and peace." 

Susan Coolidge. 

T F we will really persevere in our endeavors 
* and in our prayers, we may be sure that He 
who was on this day born into the world, — 
the Saviour of sinners, — and who grew up as 
a tender plant in a dry ground, will cause the 
dry ground of our hearts to become fruitful, 
and the seed of grace to spring up, first the 
blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the 

ear - Peter Young. 



DECEMBER 26. 361 



For He hath said, I will never leave thee nor 
forsake thee, — Heb. xiii. 5. 

0 Love Divine, whose constant beam 
Shines on the eyes that will not see, 
And waits to bless us while we dream 
Thou leavest us, because we turn from Thee. 

Nor bounds, nor climes, nor creed Thou knowest ; 

Wide as our need Thy favors fall ; 
The white wings of the Holy Ghost 
Stoop seen or unseen o'er the heads of all. 

John Greenleaf Whittier. 

'"THE only thing that can really darken the 



soul is something coming between it and 
God ; but that is impossible so long as the soul 
remembers His presence. He touches us on 
every side with His loving, compassionate care. 




Henry Van Dyke. 



362 DECEMBER 27. 



Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye sled- 
fast, immoveable, always abounding in the woi'k 
of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your 
labor is not in vain in the Lord. — i Cor. 
xv. 58. 

Though scoffers ask where is your gain, 
And mocking' say your work is vain, 
Such scoffers die and are forgot, 
Work done for God, it dieth not. 

Press on ! press on ! nor doubt nor fear, 
From age to age this voice shall cheer : 
Whate'er may die and be forgot, 
Work done for God, it dieth not. 



HEN men do anything for God, the very 



* * least thing, they never know where it 
will end, nor what amount of work it will do 
for Him. Love's secret therefore is to be al- 
ways doing things for God, and not to mind 
because they are very little ones. 



Thomas Knox. 




Frederick William Faber. 



DECEMBER 28. 363 



In the day when I aied Thou answeredst 
me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my 
souL — Ps. cxxxviii. 3. 

Dear Lord, what can I do ? I come to Thee ; 

I have none other helper ; Thou art free 

To save me or to kill. But I appeal 

To Thy dear love, which cannot elsewise deal 

Than prove Thyself my friend, Thy will my weal. 

Henry G. Sutton. 

/Wl Y mind showed me it was just such as I — 
the helpless, who feel themselves help- 
less — that God especially invites to come to 
Him, and offers all the riches of His salvation ; 
not forgiveness only, — forgiveness would be 
worth little if it left us under the power of 
our evil passions, — but strength, that strength 
which enables us to conquer sin. 

George Eliot. 



364 



DECEMBER 29. 



Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I com- 
mand you-. — John xv. 14. 

1 slept, and dreamed that life was beauty ; 
I woke, and found that life was duty. 
Was my dream then a shadowy lie ? 
Toil on, sad heart, courageously ; 
And thou shalt find thy dream shall be 
A noon-day light and truth to thee. 



E are to love what He loves, and do what 



He commands, and suffer what pain or • 
sorrow He sends, and carry what burdens He 
lays upon us, and in all and through all to 
rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And 
remember, every action and every passive 
grace will contribute something to the com- 
pleteness that is set in obedience to the will of 
God and blessed by Him. 



Disciples'' Hymn-Book. 




Raleigh. 



DECEMBER 30. 



365 



Speak not evil one of another. — James iv. 1 1 . 

Nay, speak no ill ; a kindly word 

Can never leave a sting behind ; 
And oh ! to breathe each tale we 've heard, 

Is far beneath a noble mind. 
For oft a better seed is sown 

By choosing thus a kinder plan ; 
For if but little good we 've known, 

Let 's speak of all the good we can, 

REMEMBER that charity thinketh no evil, 
much less repeats it. There are two 
good rules which ought to be written on every 
heart, — never believe anything bad about any- 
body unless you positively know it is true ; 
never tell even that unless you feel that it is 
absolutely necessary, and that God is listening 
while you tell it. 

Henry Van Dyke. 



366 



DECEMBER 31. 



Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a 
new creature : old things are passed away ; be- 
hold, all things are become new. — 2 Cor. v. 



Whatever hath been written shall remain, 
Nor be erased, nor written o'er ag'ain; 
The unwritten only still belongs to thee, 
Take heed and ponder well what that shall be. 



E cannot undo the past and begin afresh. 



v y We have to take the past as the starting- 
point and determining element of the future. 
But the gospel reminds us that what cannot 
be obliterated may be transmuted by divine 
grace. In Christ Jesus we may become new- 
creatures ; and in the eternal life that we begin 
in union with Him all old things, so far as 
there is any condemning power in them, pass 
away, and all things in the transfiguring light 
of heavenly love become new. 



Henry Wadswortb Longfellow. 




Hugh Macmillan. 



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